The Iceman Returneth
Canadian Grand Prix

By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Kimi Räikkönen closed the gap on the Renaults this weekend by winning his third race of the season when both of the blue and yellow cars failed. The Iceman held off a charging Michael Schumacher towards the end of the race and finished 1.1 seconds ahead of last year's world champion.

The Flying Finn drove a clean race and had luck on his side as the competitors that started ahead of him all fell by the wayside. But all was not well with McLaren, this weekend. A failure to come in when he was told to caused Juan Pablo Montoya to come in for fuel when he was leading the race. Someone also needs to tell the trash talking Columbian that, with the exception of some developing nations, a red light means stop, not go. The penalty for this in Canada (which is a developed country) was a disqualification. So, Ron Dennis was able to keep his trademark smirk for the rest of the day on Sunday.

Ferrari is making progress with both the car and the tires after several weeks of intensive testing. Michael Schumacher qualified on the front row but became bogged down at the start. After clearing his way through the litter of wrecks, he would finish in second place. Rubens Barrichello grabbed the last podium start in a drive that imitated classic Schumacher by starting from the pit lane after a gearbox failure in qualifying. Ferrari fans everywhere are starting to think that this may turn into a 3 horse race.

Massa was the first of the non-podium finishers and ran a rather uneventful but steady race. But more importantly, he showed that he was much better than his team-mate at the track named for the tax dodging French Canadian's father. Villeneuve, by the way, would finish a lap back in ninth. I hope for Peter Sauber's sake that Villeneuve is on a pay-for-performance based contract, because he's not getting a whole hell of a lot out of him.

Mark Webber was the last driver on the lead lap and finished in fifth place. Comments and rumors were going wild this week centered on the lack of faith between BMW and Sir Frank's team. If the rumors are true, expect to see more head-of-the-also-rans performances for the blue and white cars.

Ralf Schumacher brought the Toyota to the end in sixth place showing that yes, it is fast, but the drivers aren't always getting the most out of it. Jarno Trulli's car would give up its ghost with only eight laps remaining. Expect to hear some complaining in Japanese this coming week.

Red Bull Racing had a good weekend with both cars capturing the last two points paying positions. Proof again that there probably wasn't the right culture under Ford's ownership of Jaguar to get the results that they desperately wanted.

As for Renault, it just wasn't Flabio's weekend. He wanted his boys to extend the lead in the championships, but when one car crashes out and the other car's hydraulics fail, it's not going to do your points hope any good.

The other team that had both cars fail to finish was BAR-Honda. What made it painful for that team was that Jenson Button put the car on pole. But that place only lasted a few seconds when he also bogged the start and was passed by the Renaults. His day would end at the "Wall of Champions" which in years past was the "Welcome to Quebec" sign. The latter is still appropriate and the race organizers need to bring it back.

The teams aren't going to be able to do much except receive new bits by air freight as most cars will be staying in North America for the United States Grand Prix. Racing will be at the Brickyard this weekend. Stay tuned, it's starting to get interesting.