It’s that time of the week again as I run down the news stories that have caught my eye in the build up to the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend. Now the dust has settled on the explosive situations of Turkey, what will happen at the Circuit De Gilles Villenueve? The two tops teams have had their dirty laundry on show for 14 days, but which one has done the best job in the PR department? Let’s not forget the other teams further down the grid, in another edition of TGTB&TB!

The Good

The biggest story of this week is Red Bull signing Mark Webber, and recent rumoured Ferrari target, to a year’s extension until 2011.  The form man of 2010 has got himself the best seat possible for next year and credit to him. I wholly expect him to be the man who comes out of the collision in Turkey with the better reputation, as he kept his mouth closed in press conferences and kept the car on the road to move 15 points ahead of his team-mate in the championship standings. The past three rounds have been in Webber’s pocket and I’m expecting Canada to be exactly the same.

Red Bull are clearly the setters of the pace this season, but McLaren have emerged from the pack as the only team to challenge them so far. The main difference seems to be how each team operates in terms of strategy and team discipline. Staff at McLaren have been in this sport for a long time, and adhere to the ideals set by Ron Dennis that led them to become the most professional outfit on the grid. Pretty much everything that has happened in F1 McLaren have been there to experience, and they’ve learnt from that. In comparison to this, Red Bull is still in its infancy. Let’s not forget, the team only started winning last year, and have never had a sustained run for the championship in their history. Not so long ago, they were the laughing stock that was Jaguar Racing. The dynamic between these two teams is going to be fantastic as the season continues to unfold. The fast new boys vs. the slower, but more wily, veterans. That alone will keep my interest.

The Good regulars Renault should be looking forward to this weekend race in Canada as they slowly move themselves up the grid. Robert Kubica is already aiming for the podium, and he could very well achieve that given his previous form at this circuit. It’s testament to a team like Renault which has gone through plenty of recent upheaval that success can be achieved so soon afterwards. They are snapping on the heels of Mercedes in terms of pace, and have left Ferrari behind thanks to a better rate of producing new parts. Dark horses still as the season wears on.

The Bad

The internal politics at both Red Bull and McLaren were a fascinating development throughout the race in Turkey. Red Bull may have had the most damaging incident, with their drivers hitting each other leading to rumours of favouritism towards Sebastian Vettel over Mark Webber. The PR onslaught afterwards is typical to see, not only to call off baying journalists but also to keep sponsors happy as well. McLaren went the same way as soon as Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton had their wheel-to-wheel scrap towards the end of the race, claiming no team orders and that fuel saving by Hamilton was the reason for Button catching and passing. “Save fuel” is the new way of saying “hold position” this season. Team orders are in F1 whether the rule makers like it or not.

Ultimately, the new regulations are dictating the fact that these incidents are happening this season. Vettel caught and passed Webber as he had his engine on a less fuel efficient setting. Hamilton had slowed down because the team had told him that tyre wear and fuel consumption was an issue, while Button has a natural tendency to “look after” his tyres and make them last longer. All four drivers had to watch fuel anyway as they had raced too hard throughout the opening stint. It seems to me that the long time fans of the sport are being robbed of the chance to watch the fastest drivers in the world go head to head anymore. Who wants to pay to see drivers conserve fuel and tyres for two hours? When can a driver use the grip they’ve been saving for 30 laps? It would have been interesting to see if the events that happened in Turkey had been the same under 2009 regulations, but how can the 2010 regulations justify hard racing anymore? There are other ways to cut costs than to cut the excitement out of the sport.

It wouldn’t be Formula One if at least something was contested in court over the period of the season. Force India are the perpetrators this time, suing new boys Lotus for use of intellectual property. Looking over the case, it seems Force India want to get out of paying for the use of an Aerolab wind tunnel by suing a new team that also had access. That’s a shady way of getting out of an outstanding payment. We’ll have to keep an eye on how this rumbles on, especially seeing as Lotus have signed three members of Force India’s design team.

The Backmarkers

Speaking of Lotus, could Canada be another step in performance for the plucky little outfit? In recent races they have been in 19^th and 20^th (front row in the new team “championship”) on a regular basis, and the gap between them and the unlucky established team that qualifies 18^th is ever decreasing. Recently, the team announced that they would be focusing on their challenger for the 2011 season, which in my eyes is a smart move, but only in the PR sense. Making it out that the 2011 car is the focus means any progress achieved between now and Abu Dhabi the team can act surprised about. They have emerged as the best start-up team of 2010, but it would have been good to see what would have happened if Hispania had a chance to test and Virgin sorted their hydraulics earlier on.

That’s another edition in the books! Don’t forget, there are plenty of ways for YOU to get in touch with US! We want to hear your opinion on all things F1, whether it be debating anything posted on our main page, or merely ranting and raving in our forum. Look out for the brand new regular column in the shape of The 3-Stop Strategy as well. Enjoy the race on Sunday and see you in seven.

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