THIS weekend’s Grand Prix in Montreal is very different from those so far in Europe.
The Canadian circuit is a fast and slow track, with a long straight followed by some very tight, as well as some good medium speed corners.
It is always very hard on brakes because of the big change from a high top speed to a low speed corner and this will always be interesting to follow in the race.
I believe we can again expect Red Bull Renault to be very competitive and be right up with Mercedes.
I expect that Lewis Hamilton will again be pushing teammate Nico Rosberg very hard for a win.
The same will be happening at Red Bull where Max Verstappen, with a new, improved engine will be pushing his teammate even harder.
Either is also capable of a win.
This will, I think, be the biggest challenge in the race unless Ferrari finds more pace.
Both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen have high expectations after recent disappointments.
We shall see whether the prancing horses can fight back.
The other top contenders must be William’s Mercedes with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, the Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz, and the Force India team of Sergio Perez and Marcus Ericsson.
I do expect a special effort to come from McLaren Honda with a good chance of them using a new, more powerful engine which has shown up very well in test bed performances.
There is a chance that one of their drivers could be dropped for next year and we can expect an announcement fairly soon.
The race in Montreal could be wet or dry and should be very exciting as cars are gradually becoming more equalised on performance.
The Gilles Villeneuve Circuit is a very challenging one and tends to bring out the best from the best.
TV times are 6pm on Saturday on SS6 with the race on Sunday starting at 8pm.
In other news, the recent Le Mans 24 Hour test week ended with the diesel Audis just pipping Porsche (Mark Webber) for the fastest time.
The Toyotas were not far behind with their new, small turbocharged engines (using a similar formula to Porsche).
The race takes place on June 18 and 19, one week after the Canadian Grand Prix.
More on Le Mans next week.
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