Free Practice One
The track had been declared wet at the beginning of the session and was still lightly raining. As you would expect, the action got underway slowly, with nobody interested in risking the conditions despite the option of a free gearbox and engine change. The Williams, Hondas and Toyotas were fighting for the top spots when the cars did start to leave the pits, but the front runners stayed in the comfort of their garages whilst the track dried out. With 15 minutes to go, most drivers had set a fast lap and the Ferraris were about to put themselves at the top. McLaren were yet to set a time. Raikkonen went quickest, he was demoted to second by Rosberg, until Raikkonen finished his second lap stealing first place back. Hamilton eventually left the pits but was unable to match Kimi's time, pushing himself in third. Massa was the only one capable of taking first from his teammate, setting the fastest time of the session. Kubica, Kovalainen and Heidfeld were behind in second, third and fourth with the World Champion in fifth.
Free Practice Two
The track had dried during the lunch break and teams looked likely to head out earlier than the in morning session. The front runners headed out almost immediately once the pit lane light went green. Hamilton took the early lead after a few minutes of chaos with most drivers setting times. The Ferraris came out to join his at the top of the time sheets a little later. A few drivers struggled slightly with Glock, Fisichella and Kubica all coming too close to the walls. Webber, Kovalainen and Alonso also spun their cars with Glock and Alonso being forced to retire from the session. Piquet stopped before the entrance to the pit lane with smoke pouring out of the Renault. Felipe Massa also retired after being forced to pull off the track. The car was undamaged but was still at threat from the marshalls after some embarrassing attempts to remove the car off track, seeming completely unaware of how to get the Ferrari out of the way. Massa ended up pulling his own car to safety as the attention began to turn back to the times. Kubica set the fastest time, but had to settle for second, again. This time it was Lewis Hamilton that took the top spot for McLaren. Raikkonen, Kovalainen and Massa took third, fourth and fifth.
The track had been declared wet at the beginning of the session and was still lightly raining. As you would expect, the action got underway slowly, with nobody interested in risking the conditions despite the option of a free gearbox and engine change. The Williams, Hondas and Toyotas were fighting for the top spots when the cars did start to leave the pits, but the front runners stayed in the comfort of their garages whilst the track dried out. With 15 minutes to go, most drivers had set a fast lap and the Ferraris were about to put themselves at the top. McLaren were yet to set a time. Raikkonen went quickest, he was demoted to second by Rosberg, until Raikkonen finished his second lap stealing first place back. Hamilton eventually left the pits but was unable to match Kimi's time, pushing himself in third. Massa was the only one capable of taking first from his teammate, setting the fastest time of the session. Kubica, Kovalainen and Heidfeld were behind in second, third and fourth with the World Champion in fifth.
Free Practice Two
The track had dried during the lunch break and teams looked likely to head out earlier than the in morning session. The front runners headed out almost immediately once the pit lane light went green. Hamilton took the early lead after a few minutes of chaos with most drivers setting times. The Ferraris came out to join his at the top of the time sheets a little later. A few drivers struggled slightly with Glock, Fisichella and Kubica all coming too close to the walls. Webber, Kovalainen and Alonso also spun their cars with Glock and Alonso being forced to retire from the session. Piquet stopped before the entrance to the pit lane with smoke pouring out of the Renault. Felipe Massa also retired after being forced to pull off the track. The car was undamaged but was still at threat from the marshalls after some embarrassing attempts to remove the car off track, seeming completely unaware of how to get the Ferrari out of the way. Massa ended up pulling his own car to safety as the attention began to turn back to the times. Kubica set the fastest time, but had to settle for second, again. This time it was Lewis Hamilton that took the top spot for McLaren. Raikkonen, Kovalainen and Massa took third, fourth and fifth.
Free Practice Three
Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Kubica were the drivers taking the top spot once Saturday's action got underway. Hamilton, Nakajima, Glock, Piquet and Barrichello also set some fast times during the session but couldn't manage to get past second. With roughly 15 minutes to go,
everyone was out to show their pace for qualifying and just as the battle at the top started to take shape, the session was red-flagged. Sebastain Vettel had made heavy contact with the wall in his Toro Rosso and the track was covered in debris. The session was restarted but once the drivers had headed back out and began their flying laps, Sebastain Bourdais hit the barriers, leaving Toro Rosso with two cars to fix for Qualifying. His impact was much lighter but it still brought out the yellow flags, leaving Rosberg as fastest for the Saturday practice. Behind him were Raikkonen, Hamilton, Massa and Nakajima.
Heidfeld, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Kubica were the drivers taking the top spot once Saturday's action got underway. Hamilton, Nakajima, Glock, Piquet and Barrichello also set some fast times during the session but couldn't manage to get past second. With roughly 15 minutes to go,
everyone was out to show their pace for qualifying and just as the battle at the top started to take shape, the session was red-flagged. Sebastain Vettel had made heavy contact with the wall in his Toro Rosso and the track was covered in debris. The session was restarted but once the drivers had headed back out and began their flying laps, Sebastain Bourdais hit the barriers, leaving Toro Rosso with two cars to fix for Qualifying. His impact was much lighter but it still brought out the yellow flags, leaving Rosberg as fastest for the Saturday practice. Behind him were Raikkonen, Hamilton, Massa and Nakajima.Qualifying
After his crash in Free Practice Three, Sebastian Vettel would not take part in qualifying as his car was not fixed in time. He will start from the pit lane on Sunday. His teammate, Sebastain Vettel, would be given a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after his crash.
Session One
The Ferrrais were the first to set a few quick laps, with Raikkonen and then Massa taking first during the session. McLaren couldn't match that with Hamilton only just scraping his way into fifth. The McLarens eventually broke the first place barrier and secured a 1-2 position. There were no real surprises in the mid-field but the biggest surprise of the session was Jenson Button who had been struggling all weekend so far. He was having a hard time in 19th (last) place. He returned to the pits with gearbox problems. In the last few minutes, Trulli spun at turn one but still made it through comfortably. The last five places would be taken by Bourdais, Sutil, Fisichella, Button and Vettel.
Session Two
Kovalainen was the first to set a time in session two of qualifying with Rosberg taking first not long after. Jarno Trulli ruined drivers attempts to knock the Williams driver off the top, after spinning again. He managed to avoid damaging his Toyota and continued. Rosberg did eventually leave first as Hamilton and Raikkonen made appearances on top. Lewis stayed on top with the Ferrari's behind and Alonso in the Renault in second. Jarno Trulli failed to make Session three for the first time this season after spinning for the third time. Webber also spun but made contact with the walls. He had made it into Q3 but his car was now damaged. Eliminated from the rest of Qualifying were Glock, Nakajima, Coulthard, Trulli and Piquet.
Session Three
Mark Webber's car was not fixed in time for the start of Session Three so he would start from 10th on the grid. Hamilton took the early lead with Renault's Fernando Alonso joining him in second. Alonso was eventually pushed down by Raikkonen though. With Massa in fifth and Rosberg in fourth the Pole shootout was on. At the end of the session, Kimi Raikkonen competed his fastest lap but it was not enough to beat Hamilton and he slotted in second. Everyones attention suddenly turned to BMW as Robert Kubica had unexpectedly beaten Hamilton's time. Lewis was still on a lap though, and he took pole by a massive margin, over half a second. The top ten from Qualifying in Canada were:
During qualifying the track had been unable to cope with the F1 cars and was breaking up. This had been seen before at Canada but never this early in the weekend. Serious worries were beginning to rise and emergency repairs were made to the track overnight, with the surface at turn 10 looking a complete mess. Just prior to the race, many teams and drivers were unsure whether the track would last the duration of the race.Jenson Button had a gearbox change after his qualifying problems and would start behind Sebastain Vettel in the pit lane.
Race
The race got underway cleanly with no incidents and no position changes with the top three. Nico Rosberg passed Fernando Alonso for fourth whilst Rubens Barrichello moved into seventh after taking Nick Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen. Heikki took the place back quickly, and eventually Nick did too. Timo Glock and Mark Webber dropped back, whilst Nelson Piquet made contact with Jarno Trulli forcing his way through. Lewis Hamilton was now pulling away from Robert Kubica at the front. Adrain Sutil pulled off the track with problems. His car was partly on the track but not on the racing line so the saftey car did not come out. His car then caught fire and the saftey car was brought out ruining Hamilton's lead. The top five then entered the pits in order. Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Alonso. Hamilton had a bad stop and Kubica
and Raikkonen were released in front of him and next to each other. They drove down the pit lane side by side but stopped at the end as the red light was on. Hamilton did not realise the red light was on and didn't see the stopped cars until it was too late. He steered away from Kubica but crashed into the back of Raikkonen. Rosberg was following Hamilton and crashed into the back of him. Kubica pulled away whilst the championship leaders retired from the race. Rosberg continued but pitted after the next lap for a new front wing. Once the saftey car returned to the pits, the top ten in the race were yet to pit leading to some unuasal race leaders. Barrichello, Coulthard, Trulli and Glock all lead the race before pitting. Heidfeld also lead, he pitted and came out in front of his BMW teammate, Kubica. They were now the main race contenders. Heidfeld's car was full of fuel and Kubica passed him quite easliy, Heidfeld was probaly asked to let him pass by the team. Once everyone had pitted, Kubica took the lead with Heidfeld second and Alonso third. The Spaniard immideatly put pressure on Heidfeld and it looked like Fernando would take third before he pushed too hard and spun. He made contact with the wall and was forced to retire. Then Kubica pitted for his final stop. If he came out in front of Heidfeld then he would stay in front until the end of the race. He stayed in first comfatbley making a BMW 1-2 look highly lightly. Meanwhile at the turn 10 hairpin, Barrichello was taken by Kovalainen for fourth but Massa managed to slip past both of them round the hairpin and made it stick, giving Ferrari some relief. Fisichella then spun and hit the wall, retiring, and the question of the saftey car was once again raised. Massa and Kovalainen were brought in on the belief there would be a saftey car but there wasn't and the drivers dropped back down the order. Jenson Button was having a good race in fifth despite starting in last but he also came in, ending his chance of points. Massa made his way back to fifth, but attention turned back to the front as BMW and Robert Kubica secured thier first win, and with Heidfeld behind, it was a BMW Sauber 1-2 finish. David Coulthard took the remaining place on the podium.
The race got underway cleanly with no incidents and no position changes with the top three. Nico Rosberg passed Fernando Alonso for fourth whilst Rubens Barrichello moved into seventh after taking Nick Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen. Heikki took the place back quickly, and eventually Nick did too. Timo Glock and Mark Webber dropped back, whilst Nelson Piquet made contact with Jarno Trulli forcing his way through. Lewis Hamilton was now pulling away from Robert Kubica at the front. Adrain Sutil pulled off the track with problems. His car was partly on the track but not on the racing line so the saftey car did not come out. His car then caught fire and the saftey car was brought out ruining Hamilton's lead. The top five then entered the pits in order. Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Alonso. Hamilton had a bad stop and Kubica
and Raikkonen were released in front of him and next to each other. They drove down the pit lane side by side but stopped at the end as the red light was on. Hamilton did not realise the red light was on and didn't see the stopped cars until it was too late. He steered away from Kubica but crashed into the back of Raikkonen. Rosberg was following Hamilton and crashed into the back of him. Kubica pulled away whilst the championship leaders retired from the race. Rosberg continued but pitted after the next lap for a new front wing. Once the saftey car returned to the pits, the top ten in the race were yet to pit leading to some unuasal race leaders. Barrichello, Coulthard, Trulli and Glock all lead the race before pitting. Heidfeld also lead, he pitted and came out in front of his BMW teammate, Kubica. They were now the main race contenders. Heidfeld's car was full of fuel and Kubica passed him quite easliy, Heidfeld was probaly asked to let him pass by the team. Once everyone had pitted, Kubica took the lead with Heidfeld second and Alonso third. The Spaniard immideatly put pressure on Heidfeld and it looked like Fernando would take third before he pushed too hard and spun. He made contact with the wall and was forced to retire. Then Kubica pitted for his final stop. If he came out in front of Heidfeld then he would stay in front until the end of the race. He stayed in first comfatbley making a BMW 1-2 look highly lightly. Meanwhile at the turn 10 hairpin, Barrichello was taken by Kovalainen for fourth but Massa managed to slip past both of them round the hairpin and made it stick, giving Ferrari some relief. Fisichella then spun and hit the wall, retiring, and the question of the saftey car was once again raised. Massa and Kovalainen were brought in on the belief there would be a saftey car but there wasn't and the drivers dropped back down the order. Jenson Button was having a good race in fifth despite starting in last but he also came in, ending his chance of points. Massa made his way back to fifth, but attention turned back to the front as BMW and Robert Kubica secured thier first win, and with Heidfeld behind, it was a BMW Sauber 1-2 finish. David Coulthard took the remaining place on the podium.
Championship
Kubica's win now puts him in control of the Drivers championship. Massa pushes in front of Raikkonen and is joint second with Hamilton. BMW are now only three points away from Ferrari in the constructors championship with McLaren now 20 points clear of the leaders. Red Bull leapfrog Williams with David Coulthard third place. After the pit lane incident, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will be penilised 10 places from wherever they qualify at the next race which is in Magny-Cours, France.
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