Robert Kubica made F1 history in Canada when the BMW won the grand prix at the track that almost cost him his life a year ago.
In sharp contrast to the 2007 event, which saw Kubica head to hospital after a huge crash, this year's race had him re-writing F1's history books by becoming the first Polish driver to win a F1 grand prix.
BMW team-mate Nick Heidfeld finished in second place ahead of David Coulthard in a rather unusual looking podium - the result of an early crash involving F1's top two drivers and a track that began to turn into marbles.
Race Report
With the official timing screens declaring that there was going to be no rain during the race, and with an ambient temperature of 26C and the track at 34C, the biggest hazard in the Canadian GP was going to be the track itself.
A mix of concrete dust and resin had been applied liberally to the Casino hairpin where the newly laid tarmac had been stripped away and race director Charlie Whiting had presumably crossed his fingers that it would hold.
As the lights went out Lewis Hamilton led off for a very careful opening lap and despite Turn I in Montreal often supplying us with a wide range of accidents and off-track excursions, the 20 cars rumbled through with no contact whatsoever. In fact the order was hardly shuffled during the opening lap, the significant gainer being Nico Rosberg who took P4 off Fernando Alonso and the significant loser being Mark Webber who fell back to 11th.
At the end of the opening lap it was: Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Alonso, Massa, Kovalainen, Barichello, Heidfeld, Nakajima, Webber and Colthatd back in 12th place.
In the opening laps Hamilton set about establishing a gap to Robert Kubica which he duly did, the Pole edging out a slight advantage to Raikkonen. Nick Heidfeld in 9th had been displaced by Rubens Barrichello off the grid and showed signs of impatience. By Lap 5 he was through at the Casino hairpin, Rubens allowing him room to make the pass.
By Lap 9 Hamilton had a 4.3 gap to Kubica which was steadily widening, by Lap 11 it was 5.4 seconds. However Raikkonen suddenly started to pick up pace on Lap 12 and set the fastest first sector of anyone. By Lap 13 he had begun to start hauling Robert Kubica in and was 0.4 quicker than both Hamilton and Kubica in Sector 1 alone.
Adrian Sutil had just parked his car against the barriers on Lap 14 when Raikkonen set the Fastest Lap of the race, a 1:17.387. By now Lewis had a 7.1 second lead over Kubica, but Raikkonen was hauling in Kubica very quicky and by Lap 15 was right on his gearbox. The result of the pressure was that Kubica began to erode the gap to Hamilton. On Lap 17 he was almost a second slower than Raikkonen in Sector 3 alone.
Despite the seemingly innocuous position of Sutil's retired Force India, Race Director Charlie Whiting decided to wait three laps before dispatching the Safety Car on Lap 18. At which point Hamilton's diminishing 5.9 second lead would disappear to nothing. The second that the pitlane opened all seven leading cars dived into the pitlane for a stop - Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Alonso, Massa and Kovalainen.
The problems occurred at the pitlane exit. Robert Kubica got away quickest and was cruising down the pitlane when Kimi Raikkonen was released from the Ferrari garage alongside him. They arrived at the pitlane exit side by side instead of nose to tail.
The pursuing Lewis Hamilton - seemingly distracted by the Raikkonen vs Kubica duel failed to notice that the pitlane exit light was on red and now with two cars across the track - when it finally dawned on him that they were stationary - had nowehere else to go. He clattered into the back of the Ferrari taking both of them out of the race. The following Nico Rosberg was similarly surprised and lost his nose running into the back of Hamilton.
Rosberg would need to make a lap without a front wing, but the surprisingly calm Raikkonen and the embarrassed Hamilton climbed out of their cars and walked back to their garages.
Out front, the Safety Car was now trailed by: Heidfeld, Barrichello, Nakajima, Webber, Coulthard, Trulli, Glock, Fisichella,Vettel in 9th (all not stopped) then Kubica, Alonso, Massa (all stopped). However in the confusion of Raikkonen's Ferrari stop Massa hadn't taken on any fuel and had been sent round again. When he finally rejoined the race with more fuel on board he was way back in 17th.
On Lap 21 we were racing again and Nick Heidfeld set about creating a huge gap to P2 Barrichello who was sometimes two seconds a lap slower than the BMW driver.
On Lap 28 Nelson Piquet spun his car at the entry to Turn 3 and the Renault ended sideways across the track, nose pointing centimetres away from the wall. Reversing out, he almost collected Felipe Massa. It had already been an eventful race for Nelsinho, having overtaken both Toyotas and clouting Jarno Trulli's tyres hard at the Casino hairpin.
On Lap 29 Heidfeld pitted for his one and only time, coming out in front of Robert Kubica who would have to stop again - at this point, Lap 30, Rubens Barrichello led the race. In a Honda.
Kubica got past Heidfeld suspiciously easily on Lap 31 and set off after the non-stoppers.
On Lap 32 the order was: Barrichello, Nakajima, Coulthard, Trulli, Glock and Vettel (all not stopped) followed by Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso and Kovalainen who had all stopped once.
Barrichello pitted on Lap 35 handing over the lead to Coulthard who came in a lap later. The men on the move at this stage of the race were Kubica who was making his way towards the front as the non-stoppers pitted, and Felipe Massa who was recovering well.
By Lap 43 the order had shaken out to 1.Kubica, 2.Heidfeld, 3.Alonso, 4.Coulthard, 5.Barrichello, 6.Kovalainen, 7.Massa, 8. Button, 9. Nakajima, 10.Webber. Kubica was stretching out a lead that would allow him to pit one final time while Fernando Alonso was pressuring Heidfeld and Kovalainen and Massa were being held up by Barrichello.
Alonso had a couple of looks at Heidfeld into Turn 1 but didn't make it though, then on Lap 46 lost control of his car in Turn 7 (like Mark Webber in Qualifying) and ended his race in the barrier. At the same time Nakajima's afternoon came to an end after running into the back of Jenson Button's Honda at the Casino hairpin. When the Japanese driver's car got into the pitlane his nose jammed under the front wheels and he speered into the barriers.
At the end of Lap 49 Robert Kubica had a 26 second lead, enough to take a final pitstop and rejoin comfortably in the lead from Nick Heidfeld and now Coulthard in P3.
Heikki Kovalainen finally lined Rubens Barrichello up at the Casino hairpin on Lap 51 and was effortlessly inside him. In fact, Rubens ran so wide that the pursuing Felipe Massa followed through as well, and, seeing Kovalainen lose grip on the marbles, nipped cheekily across the grass and took both cars at once. It was an exhilarating moment.
Massa immediately set off in pursuit of DC's podium position, but would still have to pit again for more fuel. When Giancarlo Fisichella lost control of his car at Turn 4 on Lap 53 his Force India was in a similarly precarious position to Sutil's which had brought out the Safety Car, but this time it was recovered under double waved yellows.
Massa, Kovalainen, Button and Webber all pitted again leaving the order on Lap 55 as: Kubica, Heidfeld, Coulthard, Barrichello, Glock, Trulli, Massa, Vettel and Nico Rosberg.
The Toyotas closed and both passed Barrichello on Lap 59 when Rubens took to the grass between Turns 3 / 4. Massa nailed him up the inside of Turn 1 to take sixth place on Lap 60. Rubens would hang onto 7th, but Massa wasn't finished yet.
Closing behind the Toyotas and with every driver having to be mindful of getting off line and onto the marbles he had to wait his opportunity to get past the Toyotas. That moment arrived on Lap 67 when Glock ran wide in Turn 2 and Trulli was delayed by his team-mate. Massa arrived with momentum and nicked 5th place, but Glock held on to 4th until the line.
Robert Kubica duly took his first and well-deserved GP win, followed home by BMW team-mate Nick Heidfeld, who was being gently caught by David Coulthard's Red Bull. Glock and Massa were 4th and 5th, Trulli had to settle for 6th while Ruben Barrichello picked up two unexpected points in 7th and Sebastian Vettel held onto 8th place thanks to several trips across the inside of the final chicane to keep Heikki Kovalainen at bay.
Never having a won a race before BMW boss Mario Theissen looked like a man who still had to learn how to celebrate. They had achieved their target for the year with a first win for the team - the fact that Kubica now led the drivers's championship was just icing on a very big cake.
Frank Hopkinson
.
Results
01 R. Kubica BMW 1:36:24.447
02 N. Heidfeld BMW + 16.495
03 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 23.352
04 T. Glock Toyota + 42.627
05 F. Massa Ferrari + 43.934
06 J. Trulli Toyota + 47.775
07 R. Barrichello Honda + 53.597
08 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 54.120
09 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 54.433
10 N. Rosberg Williams + 57.749
11 J. Button Honda + 1:17.540
12 M. Webber Red Bull + 1:21.229
13 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
Did not finish
14 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 17 laps
15 K. Nakajima Williams + 23 laps
16 F. Alonso Renault + 25 laps
17 N. Piquet jr. Renault + 29 laps
18 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 50 laps
19 L. Hamilton McLaren + 50 laps
20 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 56 laps
