Lewis Hamilton took his first Grand Prix victory in only his sixth
Formula One race, controlling a highly dramatic race at Montreal from
the start.
Nick Heidfeld and Alex Wurz completed the podium, Raikkonen finished fifth behind Kovalainen with Fernando
Alonso only seventh after a series of errors. Felipe Massa was
disqualified for a pitlane infringement.
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Hamilton's win has moved him clearly ahead in the championship
standings, eight points in front of teammate Alonso ahead of next
week's United States Grand Prix. Massa is already 15 points behind in
third.
But the race will be remembered mainly for the terrifying accident that befell Robert Kubica.
Hamilton held the lead from the start as Alonso's bid to oust his
teammate on the outside line at Turn 1 ended with a locked wheel and a
trip across the grass, dropping the world champion to third as Heidfeld
nipped between the McLarens.
Two further minor errors saw Alonso lose more time and eventually
third place to Massa, while Hamilton stormed away into a 12-second lead
over Heidfeld.
Hamilton then made his first pitstop just before Adrian Sutil
crashed at Turn 4 and caused the first safety car period. Alonso and
fifth-placed Nico Rosberg both dived straight into the pits, but were
adjudged to have done so while the pitlane was closed, and were
subsequently awarded 10 second stop and go penalties.
The race resumed only briefly before Kubica clipped the back of
Jarno Trulli's Toyota while running flat out on the approaching to the
hairpin. The BMW ran wide onto the infield grass, got airborne over an
access road and slammed into the inside wall, before rolling back
across the track and coming to rest on its side in the hairpin run-off.
Kubica was carefully removed from the car and taken to the medical
centre, where he was awake and alert. He was airlifted to hospital in
Montreal for further checks.
Hamilton led from Heidfeld - who had also pitted before the first
yellow - Alonso and Rosberg when the restart eventually came, but when
the latter pair pitted to take their penalties, Super Aguri's Anthony
Davidson appeared in third, having not yet made his first pit stop.
His moment of glory was only fleeting, as he locked up at the final
chicane a lap later and had to take to the pitlane, to the surprise of
his crew.
Alonso fell to 15th after his penalty, with Rosberg losing even more
ground after spinning in tandem with Jarno Trulli shortly after he
rejoined the race.
Meanwhile Hamilton pulled away from Heidfeld, Mark Webber, who spun
while battling with Kubica early on but benefited from pitting before
the first safety car, Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella. But the latter
pair would be disqualified for exiting the pitlane while the red light
was on during a safety car period, ending Massa's hopes of making up
ground on Alonso in the championship.
Webber also dropped out of contention after making his second
pitstop just after the third safety car period, which was called on lap
50 when Christijan Albers deposited much of his front wing in the
middle of the track after a trip over the grass.
Once again the restart was brief, as Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed out
of fifth place at the final chicane on the first lap under green.
That proved to be the final interruption, with Hamilton confidently
pulling away from Heidfeld after the restart. Rubens Barrichello had
moved up to third by not pitting under the cautions, but could not make
his fuel load last any longer and stopped three laps later, elevating
Wurz to the podium on the tenth anniversary of his F1 debut, despite
only qualifying 20th.
Heikki Kovalainen used a similarly successful one-stop strategy to
take fourth from the back of the grid, ahead of the muted Kimi
Raikkonen.
Alonso had made up several places during the middle of the race, but
lost more ground after his fourth trip across the grass of the
afternoon. He then came under pressure from the remarkable Takuma Sato
in the final laps, with the Super Aguri - on the more favourable harder
tyres - driving around the outside of the McLaren to take sixth with
three laps remaining.
Ralf Schumacher completed the points scorers, ahead of Webber and Rosberg.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
The Canadian Grand Prix
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada;
70 laps; 305.270km;
Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1h44:11.292
2. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 4.343
3. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) + 5.325
4. Kovalainen Renault (B) + 6.729
5. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 13.007
6. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 16.698
7. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 21.936
8. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) + 22.888
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 22.960
10. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 23.984
11. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 24.318
12. Barrichello Honda (B) + 30.439
Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:16.367
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Trulli Toyota (B) 59
Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 55
Massa Ferrari (B) 53
Fisichella Renault (B) 53
Albers Spyker-Ferrari (B) 48
Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 37
Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 26
Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 22
Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 10
Button Honda (B) 1
source: autosport.com
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