Canadian GP preview: Big walls, big beavers (squirrels, technically)

Crashes! Wildlife on the track! Lewis Hamilton’s new best buddy Justin Bieber, possibly! Flipping heck, the Canadian Grand Prix has something for everyone who likes F1 – and for most of those who don’t too.

Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, stuck as it is on a man-made island in the St Lawrence Seaway, may not have the glamour of Monaco or the history of Monza but, come rain or shine, it serves up cracking entertainment year after year.

For me, the 2011 Montreal race still ranks as one of the greats. Lots of safety cars, a huge delay because of rain, and Jenson Button coming from the back of the pack to take Sebastian Vettel on the final lap to win after five – yes, FIVE – pit stops and a drive-through penalty.

Here are a few things to watch out for this weekend… and some of them are unique to the Canadian GP.

Groundhog Day headlines

Groundhogs, also known as land beavers and woodchucks, are actually rather large members of the squirrel family.

Keen F1 fans, these rodents often break into the Montreal circuit to get up close and personal with the cars. This doesn’t always end well.

Lewis Hamilton raced one of the critters in 2008 – the images are still online, if you care to search. There was a furry visitor last year too.

And, back in 2007, Anthony Davidson’s Super Aguri whacked one particularly unfortunate groundhog into the next life – denying the beast the chance to watch Lewis Hamilton become F1’s first black grand prix winner shortly after.

An inevitable knock-on effect of these land beaver appearances is a plague of ‘Groundhog Day’ headlines in media around the world. You have been warned.

Another what in the wall?

The final chicane at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve respects no driver’s reputation. Indeed, it seems to seek out the best simply to acquaint them with humility – and with the unforgiving wall which collects cars and reputations in equal measure.

Since 1999, it has been known as the Wall of Champions. That was the year in which Michael Schumacher (pictured), Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve all piled into the concrete, which was decorated with a billboard reading Bienvenue au Québec (Welcome to Quebec). Mwa-ha-ha.

One of the great features of this wall is its ability – albeit temporary – to stop drivers making excuses for crashing. Here are a few quotes from champions who’ve come a cropper:

· Jacques Villeneuve, 1997: I made a beginner’s mistake; this is going to be a hard one to swallow…

· Damon Hill, 1999: It was my mistake to have crashed. I wish I could blame the wall, but I can't…

· Michael Schumacher, 1999: This was clearly my mistake; I usually make one mistake a year. I hope that this incident was the last for the season…

· Jenson Button, 2005: It was completely my mistake and very frustrating because we were looking good…

· Sebastian Vettel, 2011: I hit the kerb, slid off the track and hit the wall…

See? No blaming the tyres, no blaming backmarkers or team-mates, no blaming groundhogs.

This may just be the most honest part of any F1 circuit anywhere in the world.

Let’s play upgrade bingo

All eyes will be on the Ferraris (pictured), which will be running upgraded turbo units and some other tweaks, including rear suspension improvements and new fuel from Shell to take advantage of altered engine mapping.

Reliability issues are believed to have forced Ferrari to run their cars at reduced power of late, costing them anything up to half a second per lap if some reports are to be believed.

This weekend, the Prancing Horses are expected to be able to gallop at full pace – if they can’t pull back in front of Red Bull, expect tears from Ferrari management.

The thing is, other teams have also tweaked their engines, albeit less substantially than Ferrari.

Mercedes have made changes to deal with ‘little gremlins’, as team boss Toto Wolff put it – presumably that means they will be able to run their power units a bit harder as well.

Red Bull will be running an improved Renault engine too, so Ferrari won’t have it all their own way in that particular tussle.

As for Honda, they haven’t yet made any major improvements to their engines this season but there are rumours that they’ll have upgrades to their turbo and Energy Recovery System. That should help the McLarens stay in the hunt for points.

Roll those Formula 1 dice.

To the Victor, a spoiled race

Here’s something you won’t see in Canada this weekend, but it’s a nugget of F1 history.

Back in 1969, a British-Canadian driver by the name of Victor ‘Al’ Pease became the only F1 driver ever to be disqualified for being too slow.

Pease had been a soldier and, briefly, an illustrator. In the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix, at Mosport Park, Pease must have wished he’d stuck with scribbling for a living.

In a woefully uncompetitive car, he was involved in several tangles. The final incident involved Jackie Stewart’s Matra, and Matra owner Ken Tyrrell persuaded race officials to black-flag Pease for the good of everyone else.

Poor old Pease wasn’t a particularly bad driver – but he was a particularly embarrassed one. Shame he didn’t have a groundhog to blame, really.