2011 Canadian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Vettel leads on 143 points, ahead of Hamilton on 85 and Webber on 79. Button is fourth with 76 and Alonso fifth with 69. Red Bull have won five of the six races so far — Hamilton in China was the only exception.

Previous race

Monaco was marred by two serious accidents. Pérez crashed heavily at the Nouvelle Chicane during Q3 and suffered a concussion; Petrov was briefly knocked unconscious in a five-car pile-up late in the race that brought out the red flag — the first race stoppage since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix. Vettel took both pole position and victory, Alonso was second and Button third; Button had been rapidly closing on the leaders at the moment the red flag was shown.

Between-race developments

After his crash in Monaco, Pérez reported feeling unwell during FP1 in Canada. Though he passed the FIA’s medical examination, Pérez withdrew from the race weekend, saying “I only want to drive when I’m a hundred per cent well. I need some more time to recover.” He is replaced by McLaren reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa, who raced for Sauber in 2010.

Virgin Racing announced the end of their partnership with Wirth Research, who had designed the team’s cars exclusively using computational fluid dynamics rather than a wind tunnel. The approach did not yield results — the team has not qualified higher than 20th position. Wirth Research will continue to develop the car through the end of the season while Virgin builds its own technical department under former Renault engineering director Pat Symonds.

Car upgrades

Several teams bring significant technical updates. McLaren and Ferrari revise their brake ducts to manage the high temperatures encountered in Montreal. Ferrari and Mercedes update their rear suspension layouts. Red Bull bring a new front wing optimised for lower downforce. Renault and Williams arrive with new rear wings designed specifically for the low-downforce demands of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

This race also introduces a second DRS activation zone — the Canadian Grand Prix is the first event where two DRS zones are used. One covers the straight between turns 11 and 13; the second runs from the final corner onto the start/finish straight.

Tyre choices

Pirelli brings the soft compound as the prime and the super-soft as the option, alongside both wet-weather compounds — the intermediate and full wet.

Practice

Nico Rosberg was fastest in FP1 ahead of Alonso and Schumacher. Vettel caused the session to be suspended after crashing into the circuit’s Wall of Champions on the final corner, heavily damaging his car.

Alonso was fastest in FP2 ahead of Vettel, Massa and Hamilton. Hamilton received a puncture midway through the session. The session was disrupted by three separate barrier strikes — Kobayashi and Jérôme d’Ambrosio both hit the barriers, each requiring a suspension while marshals cleared debris, and Adrian Sutil’s Force India broke its suspension at turn 7.

Vettel topped FP3 ahead of Alonso, Rosberg and Massa. A KERS failure on Webber’s car prevented him from taking part. A crash by de la Rosa in the final minute brought out a red flag and ended the session early.