Herbert's lap of Montreal
The first corner is very difficult and deceiving. There aren't any particular markers for braking, and it's quite bumpy as well, which can make the car a little bit excitable. And it's always important to get the braking point right, especially for the first left, because you want to keep as much speed up as you can through that.
It's fairly tight as you go into Turn 2, and it's only a second gear corner. You accelerate uphill out of there. By the time you're just past the apex you're giving it full power the whole way up towards Turn 3, getting into fourth gear as you go into three.
It's quite difficult, because as you turn right to go into Turn 3 it goes a little but downhill, and it's quite tight. The wall on the right makes it look tighter and it's a bit off putting. You're in second gear there, using the kerb. It's important to carry the speed through Turn 5. That's in fifth, flat out no problem. There's a little bump in the middle, but it doesn't really affect the car.
Turn 6 is difficult because there are no braking markers there. The corner itself is again quite important. You've got to use a little bit of the curb on the left at Turn 6, and you've got to keep it as tight as you can to come out for Turn 7 and carry the speed through there. It's second for Turn 6, and then into third half way around Turn 7, then accelerating down the straight.
Into Turn 8 you're using the kerb on the right in second gear, carrying the speed through that. Then you're flat out the whole way through Turn 9, into third gear half way round, fourth just on the exit and then fifth.
There are braking markers at the hairpin (Turn 10). It's like a little stadium, which is quite nice. It's very slow, in first or second gear. You can go very wide on the exit, up against the armco on the outside. As you're coming in you can normally see what's going on the other side, and you can look at the big TV and see what's happening.
Then there's the straight, which is much better these days. The old fast chicane (pre'94) wasn't really a problem as it was always flat, but it might be a problem if something broke.
The final chicane is very good, and you can use all the kerbs. The exit of the last part is quite important, because you have to get really close to the wall to get a faster run down the straight. It's a very technical circuit but easy to learn, and it's not easy to set a car up.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments