Young Hamilton Breaks Through In Strange Canadian GP

By Dan Knutson
NSSN Correspondent
MONTREAL — “I think the only person who had a trouble-free race this afternoon was Lewis Hamilton,” Renault team boss Flavio Briatore said after the chaotic, accident-filled and wild Canadian Grand Prix.
In a way, it was rather like one of those comedy films where the guy walks alone serenely oblivious to all sorts of crazy stuff happening behind him.
Hamilton was aware of much of the commotion going on in the 70-lap affair, of course, and he was acutely aware that his good friend Robert Kubica had had a horrendous accident.
But, other than almost getting knocked out of the race by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes teammate Fernando Alonso just after the start, Hamilton, who qualified on the pole, cruised to his first grand prix victory.
“I’m on another planet after this,” Hamilton said. “I simply can’t find the words to describe what it feels like to win my first F-1 race.”
The Englishman, the first black driver in F-1 history, hasn’t finished worse than third in all six of his grand prix starts.
Hamilton and the rest of the F-1 fraternity and fans were also feeling vastly relieved that Kubica had escaped serious injury in his massive crash. It started when Kubica’s BMW Sauber clipped Jarno Trulli’s Toyota, and that sent the BMW straight into a wall, after which the car ricocheted back on the track in a series of frightening flips before coming to rest on its side.
Briefly unconscious, Kubica was taken first to the track medical center and then to a hospital in Montreal. He was kept overnight for observation and was due to be released the next morning with nothing more than a sprained ankle. The team and the doctors will decide at a later time if he will race in the United States Grand Prix this weekend at Indianapolis.
In all, the safety car came out four times, including the period after Kubica’s accident. The other crashes weren’t serious, but the walls on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve make it difficult to remove stranded cars.
The frequent safety-car periods created all sorts of sudden changes in pit strategy. The new rule, which says that all the cars must be lined up behind the safety car before pit lane is opened stung Alonso and Nico Rosberg. Both had to pit or run out of fuel, and that resulted in both getting a 10-second stop-and-go penalty.
Alonso had a messy race, sliding off the track several times and eventually finishing a lowly seventh.
Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa suffered much more drastic punishment, as both were disqualified for leaving the pit lane when the red light was on. Both reckoned they had a shot at the podium.
The only podium slot anyone had a shot at was third because Hamilton had first all tied up, and Nick Heidfeld, who started third in his BMW Sauber, was secure in second. Like the rest of the drivers, Heidfeld had to keep his car on a narrow line, as there were so many marbles waiting to snatch anybody that got out of the groove.
Alex Wurz, Heikki Kovalainen, Kimi Raikkonen, Takuma Sato, Alonso and Ralf Schumacher rounded out the top eight.