Take out no less than four safety car periods, two black flags, other problems for many in the 70-lap Canadian Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton had no issues leading away from the Pole Position to secure his first Grand Prix win on what was just his sixth Formula One race start. It was a stunningly calm performance from the Rookie driver as Championship rivals Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen all hit troubled of their own.
As a Grand Prix, the Canadian event was a real mess in terms of the calmly plotted strategies from the race teams. The only two drivers to avoid incident, accident or penalties in Montreal were the top two and it was Hamilton ahead of Nick Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber.
To run through the incidents and accidents and penalties will be a separate article as they are far to complex and as the author of this article minutes after the chequered flag, it need a calm couple of hours to watch the VT and understand exact why and how some people finished where they did!
Cutting to the chase and the main thing from the sixth round of the championship was the fact that Robert Kubica survived a massive accident with what seems to be minimal injury. The BMW Sauber driver had just pitted and got together with Ralf Schumacher before catapulting into the wall, shedding much of the F1.07 before coming to halt with just the safety call remaining at the Casino hairpin.
It was a terrifying accident and it is a testimony to the strength of the modern day Formula One car that he will be back in action before too long.
Back to the race and aside from Hamilton and Heidfeld who finished one-two, it was a real case of survival. Starting 19th, Alex Wurz finished third for Williams Toyota stopping just the once, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen who started the race from 22nd and last. Kimi Raikkonen was classified fifth in his Ferrari ahead of Takuma Sato and Fernando Alonso.
Alonso started the event as joint championship leader, but a mistake into turn one at the start saw the Spaniard run off track and drop behind Raikkonen. Alonso would take another two trips off track and was then awarded a penalty for stopping under the safety car. Back on track and with a damaged car, Alonso was unable to hold back the Super Aguri Honda of Sato and takes just two championship points away from Montreal.
Over at Ferrari and it was even worse as Felipe Massa was disqualified for leaving the pit lane with the red lights showing, a similar fate for Giancarlo Fisichella over at Renault, while Kimi Raikkonen lost ground in the pits under the safety car while he awaited Massa's service before he could take his own. Ralf Schumacher who took the final point for the Toyota team after an eventful Grand Prix.
The race result was determined by pit stop strategy and the call of the yellow flags for position three down to eighth, and one man that ran all weekend, Mark Webber, was out of luck as he finished ninth after running so well in his Red Bull Renault. Team-mate David Coulthard retired with a gearbox failure.
Nico Rosberg should have and probably could have finished well into the points but he pitted under a caution periods when the pits remained closed and dropped to tenth ahead of Anthony Davidson in his Super Aguri Honda - who pitted late in the race to find no one ready to service him. The final runner was Rubens Barrichello who would have finished much higher up were it not for a late pit stop. The non-finishers were numerous as just 12 drivers took the chequered flag.
Jarno Trulli ran well and was in the points before he nosed his Toyota into the tyres exiting the pits. Tonio Liuzzi hit the wall in his Toro Rosso; Felipe Massa was disqualified as was Giancarlo Fisichella. The Spyker duo of Christijan Albers and Adrian Sutil both crashed out in separate events, Coulthard had a gearbox problem while Speed crashed out and Kubica had his massive accident. Jenson Button suffered a mechanical failure at the start and did not take part in the race.
All credit to Hamilton who dominated the event while Alonso was never able to recover from his lap one error. Ferrari were never a factor for the win and took themselves out of contention.
A confusing race but there is no denying the fact that Lewis Hamilton has made his mark on Formula One. The rookie driver has 48 points heading to Indianapolis, eight ahead of Alonso. Felipe Massa remains on 33 points while Raikkonen now has 27. McLaren Mercedes meanwhile have extended their advantage over Ferrari to 28 points.
Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International
1. L.Hamilton
2. N.Heidfeld
3. A.Wurz