F1 News
Date: 10/June/2012
Sebastian Vettel provided the perfect response to the recent Red Bull technical controversy by qualifying on pole position in Canada and thus setting himself up as the theoretical favourite to be F1 2012’s first repeat winner on Sunday.
The slot holes in the Red Bull floor were banned by the FIA between the Monaco and Canadian rounds, while the reigning champions were informed in Montreal that brake cooling holes in the wheel hub of the RB8 must also be closed due to a perceived aerodynamic benefit.
Just before the weekend, Mark Webber responded angrily to suggestions that the rule changes mean his Monaco win, and the Bahrain victory by Vettel, were with ‘an illegal car’.
The Australian 35, said: “It completely pisses me off to be honest, because the car has passed every single technical regulation after the race.”
Vettel then went on to prove that the parts had not been a ‘make or break’ feature of the car by claiming pole in Saturday’s qualifying session by a sizeable - for F1 2012 - 0.303s.
“Well, we changed the car. We had to close the hole or slot or whatever you call it. It seemed to work pretty well without the hole,” smiled Vettel.
“First it was declared illegal, then it was declared legal and now illegal again, so maybe next week it’s legal again. We have the parts in the garage!”
But the German, 24, insisted he didn’t feel the need to prove a point following the technical changes.
“There’s no real extra motivation. I think we still just have to make sure we get the best out of the car that we can,” he said.
Vettel was denied a first victory in Canada on the very final lap of last year’s grand prix, marking the latest in a long line of race day surprises thrown up by a circuit built on a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River.
“This place is a crazy place, it has delivered some crazy races in the past and safety cars are likely etc, so you have to be aware of all that and take it into account for your strategy,” he said.
“Sometimes it can help you, sometimes it may work against you. We have to look after ourselves and try to do the best we can, have clean pit stops and have the fastest race that we can.”
Starting alongside Vettel will be McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, chasing his first win of the season, with World Championship leader Fernando Alonso in third.
Alonso is also braced for an unpredictable race.
“Races this year are very difficult to predict,” said the Spaniard. “What we think on Saturday is normally not anywhere near what happens on Sunday. So we’ll see.
“It would be nice to win here and it’s a good circuit for Ferrari historically. Also, it’s Gilles Villeneuve’s anniversary, 30 years. So, it would be nice to offer all the Ferrari tifosi here in Canada a good result.
“But we know there are, at the moment, two guys quicker than us, as they proved today. Tomorrow we need to do better if we want to win.”
Alonso, who has new parts this weekend, will start round seven with a three-point lead over Vettel and Webber. Webber qualified fourth while last year’s winner, Jenson Button, will start from tenth for McLaren.
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