June 11, 2002

by Erik C. Nielsen

Pictures courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Michael Schumacher cruised to victory one more time in Montreal bringing Ferrari's total number of wins to 150. Cruised may not be the correct term, in that his only real competition eliminated himself.

Formula 1 returned to the only island race course of the season for round 8 of this year's championship. The weekend looked like Williams would dominate with Juan-Pablo setting a new record with a pole time that was almost three seconds quicker than last year's time. Technically, any pole time would have been a new record with 60m coming out of the hairpin section in the name of safety.

The Columbian made a hard charge, but was passed by the Ferrari of Rubens Barichello by the end of lap one. His day would come to an end with a blown engine. He still hasn't learned that an F1 car is much more fragile than an Indy car. Foot to the floor works, but it won't go race distance. Ralf completed William's unremarkable weekend by placing 7th, outside of the points, but hey, he did finish.

Michael was in his usual form making it look easier than it really is. Still, he needs maximum points as a buffer for the FIA meeting later this month to discuss his "sportsmanship" as related to the podium. The FIA may take away team points for the race, but big deal. If Williams can't finish races, so what...

David Coulthard kept some momentum going from his win at Monaco two weeks ago and finished second. Some off handed comments about being at McLaren next year got Ron Dennis to do his lemon face impression again saying nothing is written in stone. If he can make it a three way race, he might yet keep his job. Mika still hasn't announced his plans for next year. The two time world champion will be back if he needs a car payment. Kimi put numbers on the board by bringing his McLaren home in fourth place solidifying McLaren's challenge in the constructor's championship.

Fisichella helped Jordan's sponsorship money by placing 5th after a hard fight with Raikkonen and Jarno Trulli. Trulli grabbed the last point of the weekend, making Flavio slightly less agitated than normal.

Villeneuve made a fool of himself in front of his home crowd. Again. As usual. The one-hit-wonder Canadian blew his motor on lap 16, bunching up the field and eliminating Barichello's real chances by cutting his lead on his two stop strategy gamble. Just because the place is named after your dad, doesn't mean you'll finish.

The rest of the field just practiced the normal F1 shuffle this weekend. Toyota looked good for about 10 minutes. The wee Scot (he comes up to my chest) McNish spun and kept the motor running. Too bad he fragged the gearbox in the process. If he keeps this up, I'll never be able to make a quick buck and sell my autographed tickets from Petit le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona on eBay. His team mate had problems and a pit lane speed violation before he retired. Both Minardis finished. Yoong is still the slowest on the grid, but he is getting his money's worth.

This is usually the point in the article where Jaguar gets slammed. Why should this week be any different? Let the beatings begin. Once again, they suck. Edmund needs to be reminded that all of his conquests during race week will eventually learn that they were with a loser and end up in therapy for years. Hopefully he'll go broke and will have to post results instead of talking about it.

Coverage in the United States on ABC was much better than it was two weeks ago. Well, sort of. They lost the defrosted relic of Danny Sullivan trying to suck up to Bernie (thank god), but had horrible digital coverage at the end of the race and went to golf sooner than planned (schmucks).

The season is still on its one horse battle (literally). Let's hope that Schumacher won't trip at the gate and end up 5th. Whoops, wrong sport. The circus returns to Europe with the next race at the Nurburgring on June 23. Don't forget, le Mans is next weekend. Do Dad a favor; buy him a mini fridge full of beer for the den for father's day.

Race Results

1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1h33m36.111s
2	David Coulthard	McLaren Mercedes	+1.132s
3	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	+7.082s
4	Kimi Raikkonen	McLaren Mercedes	+37.563s
5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Jordan Honda	+42.812s
6	Jarno Trulli	Renault	+48.947s
7	Ralf Schumacher	Williams BMW	+51.518s
8	Olivier Panis	BAR Honda	+1 lap
9	Felipe Massa	Sauber Petronas	+1 lap
10	Takuma Sato	Jordan Honda	+1 lap
11	Mark Webber	Minardi Asiatech	+1 lap
12	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber Petronas	+1 lap
13	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Arrows Cosworth	+1 lap
14	Alex Yoong	Minardi Asiatech	+2 laps
15	Jenson Button	Renault	+5 laps
16	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams BMW	+14 laps
17	Allan McNish	Toyota	+25 laps
18	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar	+29 laps
19	Mika Salo	Toyota	+29 laps
20	Pedro de la Rosa	Jaguar	+41 laps
21	Enrique Bernoldi	Arrows Cosworth	+54 laps
22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR Honda	+62 laps