Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix: 10 June 2007
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Track: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Ile de Notre Dame, Montreal
Circuit Length: 4.395 km
Number of laps: 70
Race distance: 307.664 km
Lap record: Rubens Barrichello, 2004 (1min13.622s)
Built on an island in the St Lawrence seaway, which was used as an Olympic rowing basin, the track was named after the legendary Ferrari ace who lost his life in 1982. He was the first Canadian to win on home turf back in 1978.
His son Jacques, world champion in 1997, never attained similar success here. His best finish was second place in 1996, and that was followed by a string of retirements in successive visits. Villeneuve Jr will not be racing there in 2007, having been replaced at BMW by Poland's Robert Kubica.
The race has seen many other memorable moments. They include Nigel Mansell (allegedly) throwing away victory in 1991 by stalling while waving to the crowd on the final lap, then crashing while trying to pass Ayrton Senna a year later.
Jean Alesi took his first and only Grand Prix victory here in 1995 for Ferrari. The Frenchman parked his car on the lap of honour and sat on the back of Michael Schumacher's Benetton.
Alex Wurz provided the fireworks in 1998 when he rolled spectacularly at the first corner – then hopped into the spare car for the restart and came from last to fourth!
1999's race was the first ever to end under the safety car. Mika Häkkinen won that dramatic race, which saw Villeneuve, Schumacher and Damon Hill crash into the Wall Of Champions.
The race is a high-speed, low-downforce affair. Save for Sector 1, which has several sweeping S-bends, the track consists of long 'straights' punctuated by chicanes.
The brakes take the most punishment here due to the stop-start nature, as do the rear tyres of the cars. These leave rubber marbles off the racing line, which subsequently make overtaking tricky, though not impossible. Due to these tyre issues, 2-pitstop strategies are the norm here.
2006 winner Fernando Alonso heads into this race as leader in the driver's World Championship, ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton only on victories. The pair dominated the race in Monaco, but other teams have vowed to bounce back, including Ferrari. Given the latter's form in high-speed testing at Paul Ricard, they should be taken seriously.
You won't want to miss this early-morning affair come qualifying and race day! -
Nakajima stands in for Rosberg today, while Kubica's car expired on the out-lap.
Montreal free practice session 1 times
1. ALONSO McLaren 1m17.759s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m17.967s
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m18.136s
4. MASSA Ferrari 1m18.167s
5. WEBBER Red Bull 1m18.301s
6. FISICHELLA Renault 1m18.620s
7. HEIDFELD BMW 1m18.634s
8. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m18.652s
9. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m18.717s
10. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m18.896s
11. SATO Super Aguri 1m18.898s
12. TRULLI Toyota 1m18.925s
13. BUTTON Honda 1m18.932s
14. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m18.997s
15. WURZ Williams 1m19.189s
16. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m19.234s
17. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m19.273s
18. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m19.937s
19. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m20.331s
20. ALBERS Spyker 1m21.251s
21. SUTIL Spyker 1m21.630s
22. KUBICA BMW no time -
Rosberg returned to the fore in the Williams in the afternoon, while Massa's last ditch effort split the McLarens.
Trulli suffered 2 suspension failures, while Kovalainen's car crashed at Turn 8 on his hot lap.
Montreal free practice session 2 times
1. ALONSO McLaren 1m16.550s
2. MASSA Ferrari 1m17.090s
3. HAMILTON McLaren 1m17.307s
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m17.515s
5. HEIDFELD BMW 1m17.827s
6. ROSBERG Williams 1m17.992s
7. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m18.108s
8. FISICHELLA Renault 1m18.130s
9. WEBBER Red Bull 1m18.181s
10. SATO Super Aguri 1m18.309s
11. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m18.316s
12. KUBICA BMW 1m18.399s
13. BUTTON Honda 1m18.474s
14. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m18.493s
15. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m18.545s
16. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m18.602s
17. WURZ Williams 1m18.871s
18. TRULLI Toyota 1m18.895s
19. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m19.331s
20. ALBERS Spyker 1m19.453s
21. SUTIL Spyker 1m19.662s
22. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m20.519s -
Michael Schumacher is also attending this race...Kimi won't be pleased.
BMW's drivers are not entirely satisfied with their cars' handling yet. -
Kovalainen suffered an engine failure this morning, and he will take a grid penalty. BMW were still struggling too.
Montreal free practice session 3 times
1. HAMILTON McLaren 1m16.071s
2. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m16.459s
3. ALONSO McLaren 1m16.465s
4. MASSA Ferrari 1m16.666s
5. SATO Super Aguri 1m16.864s
6. ROSBERG Williams 1m16.975s
7. WEBBER Red Bull 1m17.071s
8. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m17.329s
9. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m17.391s
10. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m17.391s
11. FISICHELLA Renault 1m17.454s
12. BUTTON Honda 1m17.468s
13. KUBICA BMW 1m17.601s
14. TRULLI Toyota 1m17.624s
15. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m17.742s
16. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m17.748s
17. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m17.799s
18. SUTIL Spyker 1m18.270s
19. HEIDFELD BMW 1m18.428s
20. WURZ Williams 1m18.489s
21. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m18.758s
22. ALBERS Spyker 1m18.933s -
And Hamilton takes his maiden pole position on his maiden visit to Montreal! Heidfeld's final effort in Q2 though was amazing - there's an imprint from his front right tyre on the Wall of Champions!
Starting Grid
1. Hamilton
2. Alonso
3. Heidfeld
4. Räikkönen
5. Massa
6. Webber
7. Rosberg
8. Kubica
9. Fisichella
10. Trulli
11. Sato
12. Liuzzi
13. Barrichello
14. Coulthard
15. Button
16. Speed
17. Davidson
18. Schumacher
19. Wurz
20. Sutil
21. Albers
22. Kovalainen (P) -
It's been an eventful race so far.
Alonso has been off the track thrice.
He and Rosberg have been given stop-go penalties for entering the closed pitlane.
Spykers and Speed's Toro Rosso are out.
Robert Kubica has had a really massive shunt. Only the safety cell is left, his head was bounced about several times. Hope the HANS device worked...
Safety car is still out, for the second time. -
Thank goodness for Kubica. He got away with a broken leg, so it looks like Vettel will step in at Indy next week.
Massa and Fisichella were disqualified for leaving the pits under red lights.
Rosberg and Trulli spun around at the same time.
The safety car appeared no less than four times - first when Sutil crashed, then for Kubica's accident, Alber's debris and when Liuzzi clouted the wall of champions.
Räikkönen and Alonso were strangely off-form. The latter was passed by Sato in the closing stages.
Kovalainen charged his way up the order after starting last, finishing fourth.
Wurz finished third with a broken rear wing! It's been almost 10 years since he was last on the podium.
Heidfeld took his (since Monaco 2005) and BMW's best ever result.
But most memorably, Hamilton took his first Grand Prix victory. -
Classification after 70 laps
1. HAMILTON McLaren 1h44m11.212s
2. HEIDFELD BMW +4.3s
3. WURZ Williams +5.3s
4. KOVALAINEN Renault +6.7s
5. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +13.0s
6. SATO Super Aguri +16.6s
7. ALONSO Mclaren +21.9s
8. R SCHUMACHER Toyota +22.8s
9. WEBBER Red Bull +22.9s
10. ROSBERG Williams +23.9s
11. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +24.3s
12. BARRICHELLO Honda +30.4s
R. TRULLI Toyota +12 laps
R. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +16 laps
DQ. MASSA Ferrari +19 laps
DQ. FISICHELLA Renault +19 laps
R. ALBERS Spyker +23 laps
R. COULTHARD Red Bull +34 laps
R. KUBICA BMW +44 laps
R. SUTIL Spyker +49 laps
R. SPEED Toro Rosso +62 laps
R. BUTTON Honda +70 laps
Be reminded that we'll be heading to The Brickyard next week! Here we come Indy! -
Best moment of the race for me is when sato overtook alonso.
sato is a legend!!!!
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huat the fug... haha what a finish... i didnt watch it
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Canadian GP - Kubica breaks leg in crash
Canadian GP - BMW Sauber's Polish driver Robert Kubica is reported to have broken his leg in a horrific crash during the Canadian Grand Prix.
FORMULA 1 2007 Canadian GP Kubica smash crash accident ouch - 0
Kubica, 22, rolled twice at the Casino hairpin after Jarno Trulli's Toyota forced him off-line, causing his car to become airbourne and then smash into a concrete wall.
His manager Daniel Morelli confirmed after the crash that the driver was talking and hoped for the best.
"I talked to Robert, he is conscious," Morelli said before his charge was taken to hospital following an initial examination in the medical centre.
"My impression is that he is fine. He was telling the doctors about his general state. I have a positive feeling about what has happened.
"He is going now to a general hospital in Montreal. I think he is well. It's a good sign. He said nothing about the crash."
Kubica's injury means that it is highly likely the second car will be raced in the USA by either one of the team's German test drivers Sebastian Vettel or Timo Glock.
Reda Maher -
Ed: Double post, so I'll use this to say that Alonso set the fastest lap of 1 min 16.367s. No clean sweep for Hamilton.
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Kubica update: statement from hospital.
A statement from the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur in Montreal where BMW-Sauber pilot Robert Kubica is currently hospitalised has confirmed the Pole is not in any serious danger following his terrifying accident in today's Canadian Grand Prix.
The statement read:
'Mr Kubica has undergone all the necessary medical examinations and we don't foresee any further treatment will be required following the accident. He is suffering from a light trauma to his brain as well as a sprain on his left ankle.
'His condition is therefore judged to be stable and we don't have any fear for his life. Mr Kubica will remain in hospital and his state of health will be re-evaluated tomorrow morning.' -
bloody hell. shows you how tough carbon fibre is.
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All hail Lewis Hamilton.
And Super Aguri have acquitted themselves pretty well so far. The main Honda team is still searching for its first points. -
hey thanks KB! I was away but i managed to catch the race in Malaysia hehe
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who won it ?
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Lewis HamiltonOriginally posted by WiNtEr'SkiLL:who won it ?