Tyre degradation is more interesting than you think

Phil: Well, I managed to avoid the news between the race on Sunday evening and my finally managing to watch it on iPlayer on Tuesday evening, so the result was a surprise. And a very pleasant surprise: I have to say I enjoyed watching this race probably more than any other so far this season (with the exception of Monaco, naturally, when I was joined by my co-blogger). I'd forgotten what a great and challenging track the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is.

In the first 15 laps we had enough excitement for several races: Hamilton and Alonso going wheel-to-wheel in the pitlane, a visit to the Wall of Champions, Schumacher taking to the grass, Massa and Liuzzi colliding no less than three times in the first corner, Kovalainen in the Lotus running as high as seventh, and even a dash of overtaking. No less than five drivers led the race: Hamilton, Vettel, Webber, Alonso, and, for the first time in his career, Sebastian Buemi. The Red Bulls, who started on the hard tyres, fought a race-long battle with Alonso and the McLarens, who started on the soft tyres, and Alonso fought his own battle with Hamilton, starting with the nail-bating pitlane moment I've already referred to. I'd agree with my co-blogger's synopsis, however, that on balance the five drivers who lead the championship - Hamilton, Alonso, Button, Webber and Vettel - were the only ones likely to win this race, and I agree that one of them will be world champion. Which one is that this stage anyone's guess, as all of them, except I think Vettel, have at one stage led the title charge. When was the last time we had a five-horse race for the title?

Montreal is a track that's so challenging for the drivers that it perhaps wouldn't be fair to name a Skiver of the Day, not even one of the many who nominated themselves by picking up a penalty or two for pitlane speeding or some other dodgy driving misdemeanour. Except that there is a very obvious candidate, and he is the most succesful driver in the history of the sport. Martin Brundle called this the worst race of Schumacher's career. It's not clear whether this means his post-comeback career, or his career since 1991, but the latter wouldn't be unfair. Scrapping with Kubica after his first pitstop was messy, particularly cutting across the grass to avoid conceding the place, but probably just about within the rules. Shunting his former protégé Massa and breaking his front wing in an effort to retain a place his pace didn't really justify was unsportsmanlike. Giving away his points on the last lap but letting both Sutil and Liuzzi pass him was just plain crap. If only he'd stuck to passing Alonso behind the safety car at Monaco - at least that was classic Schumacher rule-bending. This looked like plain incompetence. If you saw this race, and only this race, you would never believe he had been world champion seven times. Hopefully preparing for next year means asking Top Gear if he can go back to being The Stig.

Normally I agree with almost everything my co-blogger writes, and given the depth of his knowledge about Formula 1 there's every reason to, but I have to disagree with his point about Jacques Villeneuve's rumoured comeback. Schumacher's comeback has shown every semi-retired Formula 1 driver how hard it is, and I would suggest has given the likes of Villeneuve plenty of food for thought. Could we really expect Villeneuve to do better, given that he has been away much longer, and arguably reached his peak longer ago than Schumacher? Kimi Raikkonen, who has been linked to a seat at Renault next season, should be thinking along the same lines, although I think his future now lies in rallying.