Back From the Dead

Canadian Grand Prix

For those who say F1 is boring, Turkey and Canada certainly disprove that point. Another fantastic race and an interesting one in terms of the New Teams Championship.

Lotus once again led from the grid ahead of Timo Glock. Bruno Senna once again outqualified another car in Lucas di Grassi, but it was a bad weekend for Karun Chandhok who was suffering from gearbox issues.

It was insane from the start, and after the heat had died down Heikki Kovalainen had found himself in 7th place. Lucas di Grassi was also in the points in 10th, with Timo Glock not far behind. However, after the pitstops to level things up, the new teams headed down the order.

Bruno Senna was the first to retire on lap 13, suffering from a gearbox failure. Despite all the chaos going round, the new teams found themselves getting it the way of the front runners. Jarno Trulli retired on lap 42 at the start of the pitlane with a brake problem.

The final retirement was of Timo Glock, who went eight laps later with steering problems. Driver of the race was certainly Kovalainen, who finished ahead of Vitaly Petrov (who did crash with Pedro de la Rosa, and suffer from two penalties) and Felipe Massa who had an equally disastrous race.

	Driver	Team	Race Pos.	Points
1	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus	16th	10
2	Karun Chandhok	Hispania	18th	6
3	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing	19th	4
4	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	Ret.	0
5	Jarno Trulli	Lotus	Ret.	0
6	Bruno Senna	Hispania	Ret.	0

Standings

Drivers Championship

Despite being no changes in the standings, it remains close in the championship. Kovalainen’s win puts him in the overall lead, but Chandhok’s solid and consistent performances see him just four points behind him. The next key battle is for third, Lucas di Grassi now just one point behind Jarno Trulli. Timo Glock and Bruno Senna stay six points apart.

	Driver	Team	Points
1	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus	40
2	Karun Chandhok	Hispania	36
3	Jarno Trulli	Lotus	25
4	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Racing	24
5	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	16
6	Bruno Senna	Hispania	10

Teams Championship

Lotus remain strong at the top, now back to 19 points ahead of Hispania. Virgin Racing remain in sight of Hispania, but fall back to six points behind.

	Team	Points
1	Lotus	65
2	Hispania	46
3	Virgin Racing	40

Next Race

Two weeks time sees F1 return to Europe and Valencia for the European Grand Prix. The track has received a lot of criticism for the dull races it has produced in the two years it has hosted a race. Of the drivers who have raced there, Heikki Kovalainen has the best record having finished 4th both times. Jarno Trulli’s best performance is 5th while Timo Glock managed a 7th.

The rookies raced here in 2009 in the GP2 series, with Karun Chandhok managing 6th, Lucas di Grassi finishing 19th. Both drivers recorded a retirement in the second race.