Granted, the road course doesn’t have nearly as much appeal as the oval – and has only been used since 2000, but it’s not too bad a circuit, even if it is sometimes said to be a bit ‘Mickey Mouse’. It is also the only track with a banked corner and we all know how many problems that caused back in 2005…
One person who has never gone especially well there, though, is
Fernando Alonso and that is bad news for the Spaniard.
His outing in Canada was a bit of a nightmare and his error at the start compromised him for the rest of the afternoon. In the end, he had to settle for seventh. If he is ever going to get to grips with Indy, now would be the perfect moment. One thing is for sure: he cannot afford to keep making silly mistakes.
Of course, the main competition for the two McLaren-Mercedes drivers’ is likely to come from
Ferrari.
Indy has been good to Ferrari in the past, although the same could have been said for the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. I was very surprised they didn’t do better last weekend and, with
Felipe Massa being disqualified and
Kimi Raikkonen only taking fifth, both will be eager to bounce back and finish a lot higher this time out.
BMW Sauber, meanwhile, are fast becoming a bit of a concern for the top two. The Swiss-based outfit is coming on very strong and Nick Heidfeld’s second place was evidence of that. He put in a good performance all weekend and his runners-up spot was well deserved.
Kubica was also going quite well prior to his big off in the sister car and, while his accident is undoubtedly a blow, the fact he may even race this weekend, means it shouldn’t effect BMW too much.
All the mayhem in Canada was a big bonus for Alex Wurz, who took third for
Williams. Alex has struggled a bit this season, since coming back from a long spell testing, and to take a podium on his tenth anniversary of his debut will certainly have given him a boost.
