MONTREAL — The track breaking up is a common problem at Montreal, but it normally doesn’t happen until the race. This year it started in qualifying, and the resulting “marbles” sent more than one driver into a spin.
“It is quite a big joke to have these conditions,” Robert Kubica said after qualifying. “We are in qualifying and after three or four laps, it’s breaking down. It’s quite a big lottery...it will be a tough race for sure.”
The main problem was where the track surface had been patched, especially in turn seven and the hairpin at turn 10. A new contractor had been hired, but the latest iteration of F-1 car still tore up the track.
“Aggressive adhesion of grooved tires, removal of traction-control systems and the actual physical configuration of the hairpin corner itself could all be probable causes for this situation,” the organizers said in a statement.
The track, re-patched again the night before the race, was much better in the race compared to qualifying, but still below F-1 standards.

• This year’s Canadian Grand Prix marked the 30th anniversary of the first F-1 race on the Montreal circuit, which much to the delight of the fans, Gilles Villeneuve won in a Ferrari. The track was named after him in 1984.

• Jacques Villeneuve visited the paddock where he told reporters that while he is still pursuing a career as a NASCAR driver, he is also determined to win the Le Mans 24 Hours.

• While he thought a four-hour race was a bit too long, David Coulthard enjoyed his visit to the Dover NASCAR race.
“I have watched it on television and have always enjoyed the spectacle,” he said. “It is obviously a lot easier to see all the action if you are standing inside a one-mile oval than it is standing at a Grand Prix track. The challenge the drivers have there is that there is a lot more going on, 40 cars on track, a lot more incidents and accidents and pit stops and all the rest of it.”

• Toro Rosso had an expensive practice session on Saturday morning as both Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel crashed. Bourdais’s damaged gearbox needed to be changed, so he was penalized five grid places. Vettel’s monocoque had to be replaced. He didn’t qualify and started from pit lane, as did Jenson Button who had a gearbox change.

• The organizers of the Montreal race spent $5 million giving the pit, paddock and media facilities a direly needed upgrade. Unfortunately, the new module buildings installed in the team’s hospitality areas robbed the paddock of its charming open air café alongside the water ambience.

• The wall Robert Kubica hit at the start of his violent accident in Montreal last year has been realigned. Debris fencing was added to prevent a car or wreckage going over the wall and onto the track on the other side.

• Lewis Hamilton may have a substantial points lead over teammate Heikki Kovalainen, but McLaren is not about to tell the latter to support the former’s championship challenge.
“I will attack as much as I can,” Kovalainen said. “He’s not my number one target, and I don’t want to take points off him, but I want to beat everyone on the grid.”

• Film star Michael Douglas attended the race as a guest of McLaren Mercedes. “I’ve always been a big F-1 fan,” he said.

• An FIA spokesman says that a breakaway F-1 series is out of the question.
“There are those who have sought to destabilize the FIA and undermine its independent authority for their own gain,” he said. “The overwhelming support the president received from the General Assembly confirms that our membership will not allow this to happen. Anyone who thinks that this is not the case is deluded.”

• Only five F-1 drivers are paid more than $10 million, according to Auto Motor und Sport magazine that predicts that the top salaries are: Fernando Alonso $28 million, Kimi Raikkonen $22 million, Jenson Button $16 million, Felipe Massa $12 million and Nick Heidfeld $11 million.

• Lewis Hamilton’s father, Anthony, took a spin in a half-million-dollar Porsche Carrera GT. Literally. He lost control of the borrowed car just 200 yards from his home and spun it into a hedge. Anthony and his wife, Linda, were OK but the car and hedge were knocked about.

• Spa has extended its Belgian Grand Prix contract to 2012 and there are options for three additional years up to 2015.

• Reports that a skipper wrecked Kimi Raikkonen’s $5.5 million 72-foot Sunseeker yacht offshore of a Finnish island were exaggerated.
Fortunately, the boat suffered nothing more than some deep scratches to the hull when the wind blew it onto some rocks.

• Race day tickets for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone have been sold out.

• David Coulthard copped a 3,000 euro [$4,720] pit-lane speeding fine on Friday.