Raikkonen sets fastest lap but Vettel impresses

2015 Canadian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps

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The Ferrari drivers set the fastest laps during the Canadian Grand Prix. But while Kimi Raikkonen was the quicker of the two over a single lap, Sebastian Vettel showed better race pace.

A technical problem in qualifying and a penalty for not obeying red flags in practice had left Vettel 15 places behind Raikkonen on the grid. However they ended the race in consecutive positions – Raikkonen fourth, Vettel fifth – and separated by less than five seconds.

Vettel’s race was compromised early on by a slow first pit stop which cost him at least three seconds. However after his second visit to the pits he was able to make more progress. From laps 41 to 69 he took 4.4 seconds out of his team mate despite running tyres which were five laps older and a harder compound.

At the time Raikkonen was pursuing Valtteri Bottas, but he fell short of catching the Williams driver by 4.5 seconds. This was despite setting the race’s fastest lap on his first lap after leaving the pits on his set of super-softs. He had to make this set of tyres last 30 laps, though Felipe Massa went three laps further on the same compound.

For Raikkonen, however, four laps into this stint Vettel was already lapping quicker on his soft tyres, which explains why he was gaining on Raikkonen so quickly at the end.

2015 Canadian Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded):

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2015drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061626364656667686970
Lewis Hamilton85.1679.51179.32979.07579.14278.69778.81778.90278.79378.90978.46978.778.33178.42578.38678.05178.32878.93978.45578.59778.37578.76378.08178.84778.64578.61778.44378.63294.81380.97178.31978.26378.92378.01678.45878.39578.7479.18878.91778.82778.71878.47178.20278.35978.25278.06378.07678.0478.08778.02278.27578.06277.65178.03178.04477.50177.94677.92177.83778.5677.78277.9778.1477.47277.67777.61677.7477.9378.04279.409
Nico Rosberg86.1979.79479.73279.05679.10179.08979.10979.34478.90978.79578.67378.7478.46278.75878.33878.23278.33578.71579.03978.36378.24378.69378.71579.14178.39678.56778.22177.9779.24193.75880.10878.0178.05578.39278.54378.6479.16479.04978.61978.5578.58678.19978.37578.32278.00878.2777.9278.16178.41977.95578.03177.80377.86578.08277.88877.90577.88278.13577.92678.21577.98178.08477.63777.66178.3578.13478.59278.06377.98478.148
Kimi Raikkonen86.87880.06479.37479.32579.28879.15579.1979.16879.36879.30879.05578.85578.79578.84378.69678.76378.79878.66579.09979.10978.83978.80178.89779.20479.13894.99490.37878.69678.32578.58478.48978.73878.82878.86978.91679.22278.60878.47478.42195.18179.99576.98777.46577.90277.98977.86278.23978.38877.84678.56178.52178.13978.08378.32878.39878.13678.14777.98877.9678.06478.11378.60178.46477.65377.96877.66777.97977.9978.28783.652
Valtteri Bottas87.75380.54279.8779.30779.31879.12379.09579.22479.44579.26279.06679.10278.8978.99678.91378.77979.08278.85679.16279.10979.89378.95279.00579.09179.1779.16179.50797.33280.50378.31678.28878.97978.87578.91378.8879.30378.62578.75678.38978.49679.20978.7378.68478.7678.55478.82878.43778.66978.44178.61878.71778.62278.6178.57478.88578.72178.60678.5378.37278.50278.37878.46278.37578.26878.54978.26777.92278.62979.37183.193
Romain Grosjean88.74680.66280.30580.08579.80979.86179.83679.48779.69980.01279.87979.93879.63679.44279.24879.36379.3879.29679.48979.80179.63279.95279.7480.30181.47280.0996.42581.25478.64979.18779.28579.00378.73678.73679.43579.31479.1679.39379.49378.99378.87378.4978.7778.45578.57378.68578.6978.673113.46581.37977.96978.26478.38979.49879.11878.29978.22578.40778.23979.17678.31278.46178.70778.47578.10678.45478.36278.11679.062
Pastor Maldonado90.28980.7880.33279.87580.25380.23779.87580.19480.24179.79680.14580.14280.27280.0980.11680.38496.04581.69879.55879.68379.36379.34679.84379.49879.01978.85278.94879.07581.35179.49978.91479.10578.74279.10678.92878.91378.8878.7478.90178.70178.82578.68978.68778.69778.65378.52979.03278.88679.20878.98178.38578.82278.49978.40479.59178.87378.76178.88578.65278.70978.59179.27679.4778.82178.79578.67978.79979.14179.11379.627
Nico Hulkenberg89.26480.78780.5180.18180.1380.10480.00680.0980.13779.94980.07880.30280.00380.26180.35180.07579.93780.31180.22380.05279.81679.93880.07280.0579.70980.06980.49795.43481.49579.63179.45679.56479.3979.86379.25979.24979.00478.85879.59278.85278.67378.56289.01180.11978.38978.84778.86579.29878.83578.98479.22478.6578.42478.70778.64878.33178.46879.67578.478.82178.52681.51378.65378.60178.26978.23878.45778.34678.649
Daniil Kvyat90.8481.67380.71680.80580.31680.20780.14880.30680.37880.47980.59880.49580.23979.85680.65680.19179.93480.06680.92881.11780.16380.41280.08680.09679.97179.81496.13781.79479.62579.2179.42779.95579.81279.70779.42680.11779.25980.05979.59980.38979.5779.64879.84479.13979.03979.2679.2479.32579.01378.8478.83578.81382.25679.4278.71978.92279.87878.98278.60778.85378.5278.50878.2878.27978.08478.55478.20778.36278.048
Daniel Ricciardo91.2981.99781.27980.35980.26280.30980.52480.54481.16181.14580.53580.22581.05780.4580.72280.31780.29780.38980.08980.73980.32580.35296.69981.73679.32179.69379.88779.45780.47779.84879.97480.0279.62979.6179.779.59979.71981.58980.41480.05979.6479.4379.42679.16479.53679.55782.9179.81679.54679.52379.47979.880.21780.20179.56179.32179.48879.89979.9779.75379.32879.49479.2981.19579.86779.41679.0681.94281.656
Sergio Perez91.91782.32381.18280.88680.54980.01779.99580.21779.96680.16280.22980.23980.22680.61681.1880.89680.31580.39980.50280.24580.16580.26780.54495.99481.76978.90280.08579.18679.56479.76679.58779.71680.0579.479.1979.93379.60479.83980.23979.96779.86279.679.55479.55479.67179.25679.38379.1178.88979.22581.92679.52279.06479.43681.31379.96479.6679.20279.67679.54278.89879.1679.27779.63279.66780.07180.96280.80480.163
Carlos Sainz Jnr94.31682.30181.97281.77481.42281.18481.01381.22480.68580.69480.60480.480.38180.60380.33580.39180.36780.58280.79380.6279.98581.41680.6580.0780.12580.14196.84581.99679.39679.28679.15179.24879.33181.40379.50979.53279.1217979.03179.23179.47679.34181.0780.0779.34379.06979.47779.13579.28179.32979.13779.24979.19779.1979.38679.15678.96179.10479.3179.24678.81179.3379.25880.51879.73879.479.34879.19578.891
Marcus Ericsson92.86682.64481.45981.20580.95481.12180.85280.81881.74380.79780.55680.37780.24980.70580.47580.23879.96280.35280.32880.59481.01381.33881.03980.69480.42580.15480.47397.56782.9279.4180.02380.10279.86779.99480.01980.32782.93380.11279.61779.54379.64979.82479.45279.16779.54479.08379.24179.09479.27679.73379.65781.54679.95680.0881.17179.52779.39278.8979.37779.05179.65980.72879.46879.06779.45879.00979.02680.09379.922
Fernando Alonso92.41782.7582.09882.39181.8188181.02781.22281.54781.06580.84580.6880.65480.7680.47680.51180.73881.26381.10880.88680.8180.53580.4880.49180.78680.67381.16680.66881.17380.70696.68583.76580.72280.6280.54380.60980.04979.97980.05279.96479.5879.95779.92882.418
Felipe Nasr94.64183.43581.87781.92181.35881.09980.94380.67481.46681.35581.93481.51481.45881.19281.66381.47881.39681.10781.41380.72880.75880.73681.58681.63781.35898.46383.51279.86779.90379.94379.97580.57679.94379.96380.15280.21979.85479.60879.7180.89980.01779.97579.71779.95280.46579.51779.08879.74979.45180.87579.70779.87179.35679.8779.69980.0380.98979.80180.26682.30780.1279.17279.3580.02680.38880.22580.10283.37
Felipe Massa93.64382.09181.51681.07880.96381.09480.86380.77980.29379.36479.42979.39779.3579.49779.81579.49879.50979.99680.04779.51979.67879.80679.71479.37479.44879.65580.2279.82380.77180.7879.6779.74179.69679.76780.39880.68296.41779.95578.17378.30578.5478.25978.80878.27578.378.22577.85877.89478.17377.69777.91677.79377.90778.30877.84377.92777.8378.05677.76277.70677.92677.98377.75877.55378.04277.71877.60177.58377.78878.683
Roberto Merhi97.23383.87283.45583.08583.09583.34984.19184.05983.90883.09582.63382.682.45282.26482.49482.28683.24483.21583.42182.12382.55982.49482.05283.07282.12782.9283.5283.06982.75884.00782.29382.86981.9781.988103.06283.49480.80480.85880.80781.16682.00181.95782.33882.3281.45281.56781.17881.13581.1938282.59582.0181.82181.52481.62682.47483.101
Will Stevens97.91684.21983.09583.00582.88883.22483.54683.04583.97882.99682.72482.42682.37782.2582.50682.28482.70583.50883.14583.86582.45182.18282.11782.33683.10383.13982.58182.07182.6382.45383.61682.23582.605105.35385.75881.11180.74480.70780.97581.33782.45383.93581.92481.85281.90181.638134.76785.48682.0880.83580.84982.79381.57582.03382.76183.27181.68981.92981.85381.71785.24681.68983.91881.51381.73781.923
Sebastian Vettel94.92881.93780.96681.36880.41380.968101.13381.07179.9778.64578.48278.61778.83578.61679.49678.57378.59580.88182.33379.33478.69178.54478.4678.52678.12478.97378.93578.89578.78978.9279.30278.91778.24878.36296.42779.90577.48177.29977.47277.42878.61478.60379.49978.2377.82877.95977.67577.7727977.89877.79977.72377.95577.54578.01877.49977.81178.11677.10577.49477.67777.5878.06877.78177.71277.80377.98177.5877.57380.291
Max Verstappen95.58182.71881.78281.96981.50381.31981.14880.95280.99180.96480.64481.00280.61280.40780.43880.21780.0280.5980.33280.40580.78280.34480.11680.28980.15379.85579.91980.08180.40580.76979.94680.82580.93680.89680.26780.11380.06780.275108.62781.18679.55279.69679.21978.97279.32978.9379.31478.75378.66478.61678.72878.66278.69278.73278.75478.8178.7778.73179.41979.43180.95679.15379.46580.02579.60779.96679.38979.26679.112
Jenson Button106.21985.27482.19582.03481.42480.75481.07782.29182.20181.05481.01980.99781.02980.82381.06481.4681.22581.4281.41781.34982.71582.6981.37982.80381.40482.67481.5181.18180.75580.99380.65880.43380.32980.37883.2680.5880.18580.29479.82380.30180.30180.25881.22197.90982.18579.35279.1379.10578.85679.10979.17879.08379.52381.427

2015 Canadian Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

RankDriverCarFastest lapGapOn lap
1Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’16.98742
2Sebastian VettelFerrari1’17.1050.11859
3Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’17.4720.48564
4Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’17.5530.56664
5Nico RosbergMercedes1’17.6370.65063
6Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’17.9220.93567
7Romain GrosjeanLotus-Mercedes1’17.9690.98251
8Daniil KvyatRed Bull-Renault1’18.0481.06169
9Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’18.2381.25166
10Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Mercedes1’18.3851.39851
11Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Renault1’18.6161.62950
12Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Renault1’18.8111.82461
13Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’18.8561.86949
14Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’18.8891.90249
15Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’18.8901.90358
16Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’19.0602.07367
17Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’19.0882.10147
18Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’19.5802.59341
19Will StevensManor-Ferrari1’20.7073.72038
20Roberto MerhiManor-Ferrari1’20.8043.81737

2015 Canadian Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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42 comments on “Raikkonen sets fastest lap but Vettel impresses”

  1. impressive that they went 1.6 seconds faster last than last year, without the use of Safety Car, I say that because had they used a safety car they probably would have gone even faster because they’d have had more fuel to use and less to save

    1. being on the right tyre with lower fuel helped

  2. Fantastic race pace by Vettel. Here goes the myth about Raikkonen’s superior pace.

    Lost opportunity for Vettel and Ferrari.

    1. @lancelot I don’t agree, with this article’s assessment nor your comment. I felt that the soft tyre was the race tyre to be, and so did most teams, and as the norm the harder tyre performs better as late as the race progresses. As soon as Vettel first went behind Massa it was clear what Ferrari was thinking, the yellow tyre was already producing good lap times and so Ferrari pitted early. Considering how easily Massa was carving up the field and how long he was expected to go this was the right decision, as Ferrari had no chance of overtaking Massa.
      One thing that needs to be mentioned is how old Raikkonen ss set was, at least 3 laps old. Vettel yellow set was new.
      I think the race pace analysis is in the end inconclusive, because Raikkonen’s mistake lead to a strategic change, in such a strategic race this has a major impact in instant pace. Vettel fought hard and achieved the best result possible. Raikkonen failed to deliver 3rd after making a crucial mistake.
      Honestly neither Ferrari had particularly spectacular pace, however Ferrari faired much better than last year, Raikkonen was in my view (not Coulthard’s) quite close to the Mercs after the first stint but as everyone saw Raikkonen emulated last year’s blunder.

      1. One thing that needs to be mentioned is how old Raikkonen ss set was, at least 3 laps old. Vettel yellow set was new.

        What are you talking about? At the end Vettel was faster on older, harder tyres. Raikkonen’s pace on SS was worse than Massa’s whose SS was several laps older than his.

        The fact that Vettel finished a few seconds behind Raikkonen without a help of SC and with a long first pit stop speaks volumes how much better his pace was. Raikkonen’s pace was poor, no excuses.

        1. @lancelot I think he is talking about Kimi´s tyres being used in qualy, whyle Vettel having go out in Q1 has new tyres…

    2. There is no Myth about KR’s pace. It just hasnt been around for a while.

      1. since 2006 i beleive. if only Vettels qualifying went normally, i think he would have be .3 faster then raikonnen, like he consistently is, splittling the mercedes, and perhaps pushing mercedes in the second half of the race when they were running in slowdown parade mode.

        1. *since 2007 you mean…

          1. He was better at McLaren. He was still good at 2007, but not as his usual self.

  3. At some point it looked like Raikkonen might lap Vettel, so seeing at the end Sebastian just behind his teammate was fascinating.

  4. A lost opportunity for Ferrari. But if it’s similar in Austria, it should be interesting.

    1. A lost opportunity indeed. Vettel’s race ended on Saturday and Kimi disappointed as well with his spin (although not his fault). I couldn’t understand the decision to go on SS for Kimi’s last stop. Maybe they thought his relaxed driving style would help it.

      But with fuel on the brink, there was no way Kimi was going to a race like Bahrain here. Will look forward to Austria to see how much they have closed on Mercedes. @uan

    2. Vettel’s pace was good, indeed, as was his strategy, making good use of the sets of new tyres he didn’t use on qualy.

      But IF he started on P3 he wouldn’t start the race with so many new sets to use and probably would go for a one stop. And this would require some tyre saving, which Bottas and both Mercedes did. And his pace wouldn’t be so strong then.

      1. Or he would have 2 sets of softs, and try undercut 2 times or maybe he would have the pace for on-track action. Or maybe Mercedes would simply go even faster.

  5. Did both Ferrari’s run the updated PU? I swear Seb sounded different from the onboard. I couldn’t tell a different sound note from the q1 onboard. Have Ferrari experienced a recurrence of their “glitches”?

    1. For a moment there this reminded me of the times people talked about Vettel’s RBR having a different sound than the rest of the field.

  6. Wish I could adjust the y-axis range and x-axis range. Makes it easier to sort out how the top six were fairing against each other visually.

    This was a fantastic result for the Williams squad.

  7. Raikkonen had to save fuel which was the primary reason he had to lap at same pace as others; it has got nothing to do with the tyres. Even with consistent 1m 18s lap times from top runners, all top drivers used up around 99 litres of fuel in the race.

    That spin cost Raikkonen around 10s, which is what we should look at from a fuel usage point of view- he should have been 10 seconds further up based on fuel he used. Vettel was lapping slower initially and hence had a little more fuel with him to push slightly faster. With the cap on fuel usage, 2-stop is no longer the faster option without a safety car. There was not enough fuel for Raikkonen to push after a couple of very fast laps, which ensured he didn’t leave a pit window for Bottas. The only way Kimi’s second pitstop would have worked was in case Bottas needed a second stop.

    @Keith
    Do they release fuel usage information? That is more crucial for this race’s analysis than tyre or stint length.

    1. @zenren – More fuel usage means he also went faster on a first part of the race where he gained time he according to you lost again when fuel saving, non-excuse. Vettel also lost plenty of time being stuck behind other cars which cost him easily more than 10 seconds if you like. Vettel his pace was much better and he would have made minced meat out of Bottas had this spin happend to him.

      1. Kimi didn’t lose time due to slow laps – it is just that he was not significantly faster than the one-stoppers. In Canada, the only way to make 2-stop work is in case of a error-free run which was not the case with Kimi. He lost 10 seconds with the spin and 20 seconds with the second pit stop that top runners didn’t take. Even after this, he finished 5 seconds behind Bottas, which means he recovered 25 seconds from Bottas’s lead. That was the maximum fuel margin Ferrari had. Mercedes engine is more fuel efficient than Ferrari which is probably going to matter more in tracks like Canada where the fuel usage is very tight. It should be interesting to see the true pace of Ferrari once Fuel saving is not really going to be a big worry.

        Ferrari and Williams were similar when it came to race pace yesterday. Vettel did many overtakes but never overtook Massa on track for the same reason. Faster by a couple of tenths is not enough to overtake in Canada. Ferrari didn’t have so much extra pace to overtake the Willaims on track. Vettel pitted every time he saw the gearbox of Massa and eventually undercut him during second stop. So I doubt if he would have passed Bottas.

        1. I was amazed by people who thought Vettel should have been able to overtake Bottas in Bahrain. That track is not a good track for overtake anyway. There’s just the start-finish lane and that’s it. You would need significant 1 lap advantage to overtake there.

        2. @zenren – Excellent analysis. So many fans look at one aspect, one incident, one moment in a race to fit into their preconceived conjecture instead of looking at all aspects and factors that go into every driver’s complete race weekend.

  8. So, who’s coming to Ferrari? As I don’t think Kimi will still for another year.

    I’m very impressed with Bottas, he kept Vettel behind in Bahrain, kept Kimi behind in Spain and again in Canada albeit having a slower car. Wouldn’t surprise me if Ferrari replace Raikkonen with Bottas this winter.

    1. People don’t get this fact: Bahrain and Spain are not good places for overtake anyway. Without significant 1-lap advantage you cannot overtake in a circuit where the only opportunity is on start-finish lane. Bottas has been rather calm and did a good job. But he was not actively defending against anyone for a long time. In Spain, Vettel’s defense for 30 laps against a car 0.8 secs faster was much more impressive than what Bottas did there.

    2. Funny how Raikkonen had a torrid season and everyone thinks he’d retire; now he’s having a much better season and people want him replaced. As much as I’d like to see fresh blood at Ferrari, I’m confused as to why people are acting like Raikkonen is driving poorly.

      1. They are ’cause he is.

  9. Seb only did what Kimi did in Malaysia

    1. Seb actually has shown the same pace as the mercedes drivers today and that is why I vote on him for this race..
      If I am not mistaken after the first pit stop seb had 49 sec or 50 sec behind hamilton and he was cabable of keeping that gap..

      1. Even with getting stuck behind plenty of Mercedes cars for a few laps before overtaking them. Moreover he was on the slower 2 stop strategy.

    2. In Malaysia, Räikkönen finished over 53 seconds behind Vettel (55 if you don’t consider the final lap, where Vettel cruised over the line). After the Safety Car, his race started with a gap of 20 seconds behind Vettel, and it never stopped growing, not even in laps 24-34 and 40-56, when he was running in clean air. There was no turning point in his race, he just lost over 30 seconds in the course of 50 laps.

      Vettel, on the other hand, finished 4 seconds behind Räikkönen (7.5 seconds if you don’t count the final lap), and he was indeed faster than Räikkönen after having been up to 15.5 seconds on aggregate behind the latter (on lap 28) and starting their final stint (after Räikkönen came out of the pits on lap 40) 13 seconds behind the Finn. So he was effectively faster than his team mate after a relatively early maximum gap, and managed to reduce the gap even while moving through the traffic.

      Allow me to ask the rhetorical question: Is that really the same thing? I don’t think it is.

      But allow me to seize the opportunity and highlight the performance of a man, who – in my opinion – is being unjustly eclipsed by Vettel’s race:
      Felipe Massa started his final stint almost 38 seconds behind Bottas and finished 20 seconds behind the latter (not counting the final lap, in which Bottas lost 2 seconds) – so he gained more than 17 seconds (more than twice as much as Vettel took away from Räikkönen), while moving up the field and using a rather extreme strategy that pushed his super-soft tyres to the max.

      1. Mostly I agree with you, but comparing teammates on different strategy is harder than that.

        1. @vtf
          OK. It’s a factor that I didn’t take into account, but simply because it doesn’t mitigate the facts that I mentioned – it’s actually rather the opposite.
          The evidence is scant, but it’s clear that the soft tyres were performing better over the lenght of a stint, as evidenced by the fact that no-one (except Räikkönen and the Manors) tried to spend more time on the super-softs than on the softs. The average stint on softs was about 50% longer than on super-softs, and it was pretty clear that Williams were trying to do the same with Massa, but his tyres started dropping off too early after his hunt through the pack (just like Vettel’s), so that they had to pit him before he reached the optimal pit stop window, leaving Massa with a fragile set of tyres that he had to keep alive for a very long time.

          If we compare the Ferrari’s pace during the last stint with the Williams’, we can see that Vettel, on 35 laps old softs, took 8 seconds from Räikkönen, who was on 30 laps old super-softs.
          Bottas, who was on 42 laps old softs, lost 17 seconds to Massa, who was on 33 laps old super-softs.
          As we can see, the Ferraris and Williamses were on very similar strategies during the second half of the race. However, Massa managed to outperform Bottas quite drastically on tyres that were getting old, while Räikkönen was suffering on the same tyres. If we add those two figures, we could surmise that Massa outperformed Räikkönen by some 25 seconds (not real, on-track, seconds, but a virtual figure that seems to take the respective cars’ performance into account by virtue of comparing the team mates’ performances) over the last 30 laps or so.

          1. Btw, in Malaysia Raikkonen’s car was damaged, he was lacking downforce I think. So it was normal that he was losing time compared to his teammate.
            I also think Ferrari was not good on supersoft at last race in Canada. Vettel got rid of them pretty quickly and Raikkonen used supersofts almost throughout the race. I think that made a significant difference.

          2. @vtf
            Yes, I know. However, what I don’t know is how badly the car was damaged. The only thing we can state objectively is that Räikkönen was lapping slower than Vettel throughout the entire Malaysian GP, while Vettel managed to reduce his gap after his final pit stop in the Canadian GP. So we can’t say that Räikkönen did the same thing as Vettel – he simply didn’t.

            As for the use of the soft vs. the super-soft tyres, my answer is tripartite:

            1. The only reason to assume that Ferrari performed better on the softs was Vettel catching up on Räikkönen. However, the fact that Ferrari switched Räikkönen back to super-softs after his botched middle stint goes great lengths to show that the data available pointed towards the red-banded tyres being their preferred race tyre (which isn’t too much of a surprise, because Ferrari have virtually always favoured the softer compound in the past couple of years). Also, the analysis of Räikkönen’s lap times shows no signs of his tyres offering too little grip or degrading after a couple of laps.
            He did put in two very quick laps after his final pit stop, before settling for high 1:17s to low 1:18s for the next couple of laps, then dropping into the 1:18.5s. This would’ve been a pattern consitent with steady and early tyre degradation. But then, 6 laps from the finish, he started lapping in the 1:17s again for a few laps, matching Vettel’s pace. So his pace (or lack thereof) definitely wasn’t due to the tyres. It was just him driving slower than the car and tyres permitted.

            2. When comparing Räikkönen’s lap times on the soft compound with his final stint, we can see that his lap times on the primes started with a 1:18.3 and ended with a 1:18.4. During his final stint, only 6 laps (not counting the final one) were slower than that 1:18.3 lap during the middle stint. It is thus pretty obvious that the option tyres did work better for him.

            3. As for Vettel’s tyre choice:
            Ferrari’s strategy for him was to avoid running into Massa’s rear at all cost, since they estimated that it would be virtually impossible to overtake him. That’s why, when he caught the Williams for the second time in the race, on lap 36, they told him to do “the opposite of Massa“, which resulted in a pit stop due to Massa continuing on the track (as he probably wanted to stretch his stint for as many laps as possible before having to switch to super-softs). But since that was on lap 36, his strategists decided to go with soft tyres, because they probably believed that Vettel would’ve run into trouble when trying to cover half a race distance on the softer tyres. So, in this case, their choice was not primarily due to performance considerations, but rather due to durability considerations, while Räikkönen’s pit stop on lap 40, long before his tyres showed any signs of degradation, seems to have taken place as early as possible, upon reaching Ferrari’s calculated breakaway point between the two compounds. There were no other reasons for them to pit him on lap 40. Vettel was too far behind to be an immediate threat. Bottas had been 1.5 seconds ahead of him ever since his spin. His lap times weren’t getting slower at all. The only possible explanation for his pit stop on that exact lap, to those exact tyres, is that Ferrari’s calculations must’ve spewed out the result that, in order to attack Bottas, the best bet was to switch to super-soft tyres as early as possible.
            That didn’t work, but, as the lap times show, that wasn’t the tyres’ fault.

  10. Keep it coming Reds!

  11. ‘Vettel impresses’ – you mean while driving the second fastest car, in a track where it’s easy to overtake, and where he still managed to cause two crashes being as hopeless wheel to wheel as he ever is? Were we watching the same race? Or is Keith just the ever resilient Vettel fan boy that he’s ever been.

    Last year he got showed up for the fraud many of us knew him to be, so he went to a team where he could once again have a formerly good, but now far past his prime team mate, and preferential treatment.

    1. First of all: I am not answering to you. I don’t care about you, and seeing what you wrote I am not sure what’s wrong with you. But I’m making this comment, because this is the Internet, and unfortunately some people tend to believe everything they read here. Like your baseless arguments.
      1. Vettel doesn’t have a problem with wheel-to-wheel racing.
      2. It might be easier to overtake in Canada, but his car doesn’t have the raw pace or straight line speed to DRS breeze past everyone else on track.
      3. If he had preferential treatment inside the team, one would think Raikkonen would be asked to give way for him.
      Considering even someone like Hamilton with a far superior car had some minor moments coming through the field last season, it was a great drive from Vettel. At least he didn’t just solely use DRS for all of his overtakes which made his drive more fun to watch compared to Massa who had a great moment with Ericsson and great race pace on supersofts.

      1. 1. Vettel is hopeless wheel to wheel – just look at his shocking performance in Abu Dhabi 2012, or the crash he caused in the season finale of the same year, 2010 Turkey, Spa 2010, or just the fact he’s never once pulled off a ballsey or exciting move like Webber on Alonso at Eau Rouge.

        2.

        but his car doesn’t have the raw pace or straight line speed to DRS breeze past everyone else on track.

        Actually, it really does. Ferrari have made huge jumps in performance since last year, both aero and engine wise. That, combined with DRS means it’s incredibly easy to get passed other cars.
        3. Ferrari are openly giving Kimi the upgrades far slower, and worse strategies as well. Ferrari know it would be a PR nightmare to give the most popular driver on the grid an open number two status.

  12. Did you people even realize Raikkonen was on supersoft tyres almost the whole race while Vettel was on softs? I suspect Ferrari was not as good as Mercedes on supersofts whereas they were on pace with soft tyres.

  13. I think if they pitted Vettel after first lap, he could have reached podium.

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