2008 Canadian Grand Prix

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Flag of Canada  2008 Canadian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 7 of 18 in the 2008 Formula One season.

Date June 8, 2008
Official name XLV Grand Prix du Canada
Location Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada
Course Street circuit
2.71 mi / 4.361 km
Distance 70 laps, 189.7 mi / 305.27 km
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Flag of the United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:17.886
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Finland Kimi Räikkönen Scuderia Ferrari
Time 1.17.387 on lap 14
Podium
First Flag of Poland Robert Kubica BMW Sauber
Second Flag of Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber
Third Flag of the United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull

The 2008 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 8 June 2008 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montréal, Canada. It was the seventh race of the 2008 Formula One season and the only race of the season taking place in North America. It was the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Grand Prix occurring on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The race was won by BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, his first ever win in Formula One. The win was also a first for a Polish driver and for BMW Sauber since its inception in 2006. Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld and Red Bull Racing's David Coulthard finished second and third.

The race was first of the 2008 season where neither Ferrari nor McLaren achieved a podium finish. The race was significantly affected by a pit lane incident involving Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Räikkönen and Nico Rosberg, wherein Hamilton hit the back of Räikkönen's car at pit lane exit and was subsequently hit by Rosberg. Hamilton and Räikkönen, in first and third positions before the pit stop, both had to retire from the race. Both Hamilton and Rosberg were penalised 10 grid places in the next race for their driving.


Contents

[edit] Report

[edit] Practice

Felipe Massa set the fastest lap time in the first free practice session on Friday.
Felipe Massa set the fastest lap time in the first free practice session on Friday.

The Friday practice session started in wet conditions which resulted in most of the drivers venturing out in the later half of the hour. Ferrari's Felipe Massa recorded the fastest lap in this session, followed by Robert Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen.[1] In the second session of the day, Lewis Hamilton aced while Kubica continued to record good timings at number two. Kimi Räikkönen recorded third fastest lap time compared to his fifth fastest in the earlier session.[2] Nico Rosberg, however, sprung a surprise by topping the Saturday session ahead of Räikkönen and Hamilton. The session was red flagged 45 minutes in when Toro Rosso's Sebastien Vettel hit the wall after losing control at turn nine, resulting in a number of drivers being unable to complete their flying laps. Further, Vettel's teammate Sébastien Bourdais suffered a crash at turn five.[3]

[edit] Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for McLaren.
Lewis Hamilton took pole position for McLaren.

[edit] First session

Lewis Hamilton recorded the fastest time for the session, ahead of Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen. Sebastien Vettel's poor season continued after he could not compete the qualifying following his crash in third practice session. Others eliminated in this session were Sébastien Bourdais, Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button. Bourdais received a five place grid penalty due to a gearbox change following the earlier practice session. Button too suffered a gearbox problem during his first lap run and clocked the slowest time for the session.

[edit] Second session

Resurfaced sections of the track began to break up in practice and qualifying and had to be repaired on numerous occasions.
Resurfaced sections of the track began to break up in practice and qualifying and had to be repaired on numerous occasions.

Qualifying conditions were hampered by a disintegrating track, which caused most drivers to record slower times than in Q1. Track officials were seen clearing the track of debris in between sessions.[4] Toyota's Jarno Trulli suffered significantly from these conditions, his car spinning twice during the second session. Trulli, along with Timo Glock, Kazuki Nakajima, David Coulthard and Nelson Piquet Jr., was unable to progress to the next session.

Hamilton once again topped this session, with Massa and Räikkönen coming second and third respectively.

[edit] Third session

Hamilton recorded quick times during early laps of the session, which were only surpassed by Robert Kubica towards the end of the session. But Hamilton on his final flying lap overcame Kubica's time claiming his second pole position at Montreal. Räikkönen came in third with teammate Massa pushed down to sixth position. Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg exhibited remarkable performances, taking positions four and five respectively.

Mark Webber, who also became a victim of the breaking track surface, could not compete in Q3 after damaging his car at the end of second session.

[edit] Race

[edit] Start

Lewis Hamilton leads Robert Kubica, Kimi Räikkönen and the rest of the field at the start of the race.
Lewis Hamilton leads Robert Kubica, Kimi Räikkönen and the rest of the field at the start of the race.

In the usual live interviews prior to the start Martin Brundle said to Bernie Ecclestone, "There are some pikeys there at turn 10 putting tarmac down - what do you think of that?". His use of the word 'pikey' was later criticised by an Equality and Human Rights Commission spokesman.[5]

After overnight track work to fix problems with the track at turn 10,[6] the race started with Hamilton holding his lead and all the cars making it through the first corner. Hamilton built up a lead of over 5 seconds over Robert Kubica before Adrian Sutil had a gearbox failure on the 6th lap and parked his car after turn 7. Sutil's car was off the track but after it caught fire the safety car was brought out, and there was a rush of drivers into the pits as all of the six lead drivers went in to fuel up and change tyres. Hamilton led Räikkönen and Kubica into the pitlane but Räikkönen took the lead as they left their garages, with Kubica alongside him and Hamilton behind.

[edit] Pit lane incident

In the aftermath of the collision, Kimi Räikkönen and Hamilton retired from the race, whilst Nico Rosberg continued with a broken front wing.
In the aftermath of the collision, Kimi Räikkönen and Hamilton retired from the race, whilst Nico Rosberg continued with a broken front wing.
"We expected the incidents would occur on track, not in the pit lane."
David Coulthard, at the post-race press conference.[7]

Räikkönen came to a stop at the end of the pit lane as the exit was closed, with the red indicator light on. Räikkönen was alongside Kubica at the end of the pit lane when the McLaren team released Hamilton who sped towards them not noticing that they had stopped.

In a strange incident, Hamilton locked up his wheels and slid into the back of Räikkönen's car, with Nico Rosberg further hitting the back of Hamilton. Both Hamilton and Räikkönen retired from the race, each exiting their vehicles and taking the short walk back to their respective garages. Both Hamilton and Rosberg will be penalised a 10 place grid penalty at the next Grand Prix in France.[8] Rosberg stopped again for a new wing, while Massa had to immediately make a second stop as his garage was not ready for him during his first stop.

There were seven different race leaders over the next section of the race until most of the top drivers each took pit stops leaving Heidfeld in the lead. Kubica was in a much lighter and faster car and overtook Heidfeld after only his first lap out of the pits.

[edit] Retirements

A critical moment occurred when Kubica passed team-mate Nick Heidfeld for the net lead of the race after both had made their first pitstops.
A critical moment occurred when Kubica passed team-mate Nick Heidfeld for the net lead of the race after both had made their first pitstops.

The remainder of the race was relatively incident-free, despite the surface of the circuit severely degrading over the course of the race. Nelson Piquet Jr. suffered another retirement, his fifth of the year from seven races, on the 39th lap because of abnormal brake wear.[9] Piquet had also spun off the circuit earlier in the race while running in a points-paying position, but fell to the back of the field before he reversed his car to get back onto the track. Piquet's team-mate at Renault F1 and former world champion Fernando Alonso was running in a strong third place and was pushing Nick Heidfeld for second place before retiring from the Grand Prix after spinning off. Kazuki Nakajima broke his front wing after hitting the back of Jenson Button in turn ten on the 46th lap, and was forced to retire after losing control of his car and hitting the pit wall while attempting to make it back to the pits. Giancarlo Fisichella was running last after his car stalled during a pitstop, and he spun and hit the wall after the chicane at turn nine. For a moment it looked like the Fisichella incident would see the safety car come out again, but the track marshals managed to remove the car while that section of track was under double-waved yellow flags.

[edit] Closing stages

Felipe Massa staged a brave fightback after finding himself last after being forced to make three pit stops in total due to earlier incidents. Massa overtook both Barrichello and Kovalainen at the same time through the hairpin at turn ten as his rivals struggled for grip. With a few laps to spare the Brazilian overtook Jarno Trulli when the Italian got caught up behind Timo Glock, who was recovering from running wide at turn two. Massa salvaged a 5th place and four points from the race meeting. The remainder of the drivers fought to keep their cars on the track and generally ran much slower lap times than earlier in the race as the track surface was extremely worn and there was only a single line upon which a driver was able to find adequate traction.

The race was won by Robert Kubica, who took his and BMW Sauber's first F1 victory.
The race was won by Robert Kubica, who took his and BMW Sauber's first F1 victory.
A late-race scrap between Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel and Heikki Kovalainen provided on-track entertainment.
A late-race scrap between Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel and Heikki Kovalainen provided on-track entertainment.

Kubica had built up a substantial lead over the course of the race and was never threatened while he raced towards the finish. Heidfeld held onto second place leading to the first one-two finish for the BMW Sauber team. David Coulthard finished third to score his first points of the season and the first podium finish since the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, but had to run to the podium after his car ran out of fuel 50 meters from where the podium finishers park. Toyota drivers finished four-six and Massa finished in the fifth thus neither Ferrari nor McLaren got a podium finish the first time since the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix. Barrichello kept the seventh position and Vettel defended 8th place from Kovalainen thus no McLaren driver finished in the points the first time since the 2006 United States Grand Prix.

The win for BMW Sauber marked the first time a German constructor had won a Formula One Grand Prix since the 1962 French Grand Prix.

[edit] Classification

[edit] Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel did not take part in qualifying, but scored a point for eighth position in the race.
Sebastian Vettel did not take part in qualifying, but scored a point for eighth position in the race.
Pos No Name Constructor Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Grid
1 22 Flag of the United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.909 1:17.034 1:17.886 1
2 4 Flag of Poland Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:17.471 1:17.679 1:18.498 2
3 1 Flag of Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:17.301 1:17.364 1:18.735 3
4 5 Flag of Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:17.415 1:17.488 1:18.746 4
5 7 Flag of Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:17.991 1:17.891 1:18.844 5
6 2 Flag of Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:17.231 1:17.353 1:19.048 6
7 23 Flag of Finland Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.287 1:17.684 1:19.089 7
8 3 Flag of Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:18.082 1:17.781 1:19.633 8
9 17 Flag of Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:18.256 1:18.020 1:20.848 9
10 10 Flag of Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:17.582 1:17.523 no time1 10
11 12 Flag of Germany Timo Glock Toyota 1:18.321 1:18.031 11
12 8 Flag of Japan Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:17.638 1:18.062 12
13 9 Flag of the United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:18.168 1:18.238 13
14 11 Flag of Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:18.039 1:18.327 14
15 6 Flag of Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault 1:18.505 1:18.393 15
16 14 Flag of France Sébastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:18.916 182
17 20 Flag of Germany Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:19.108 16
18 21 Flag of Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:19.165 17
19 16 Flag of the United Kingdom Jenson Button Honda 1:23.565 20*
20 15 Flag of Germany Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari no time3 19*

* Start at the pit lane.

  • Note 1: Mark Webber spun into the wall and damaged his right front suspension during the second part of qualifying, thus he was unable to compete in the third part.[10]
  • Note 2: Sébastien Bourdais incurred a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change.[11]
  • Note 3: Sebastian Vettel was unable to take part in qualifying due to damaging his car during third practice.[11]

[edit] Race

Nick Heidfeld finished second to make it a BMW Sauber one-two.
Nick Heidfeld finished second to make it a BMW Sauber one-two.
David Coulthard took the final podium position for Red Bull Racing.
David Coulthard took the final podium position for Red Bull Racing.
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 4 Flag of Poland Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 70 1:36:24.227 2 10
2 3 Flag of Germany Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 70 +16.495 8 8
3 9 Flag of the United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 70 +23.352 13 6
4 12 Flag of Germany Timo Glock Toyota 70 +42.627 11 5
5 2 Flag of Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 70 +43.934 6 4
6 11 Flag of Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 70 +47.775 14 3
7 17 Flag of Brazil Rubens Barrichello Honda 70 +53.597 9 2
8 15 Flag of Germany Sebastian Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 70 +54.120 19 1
9 23 Flag of Finland Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 70 +54.433 7
10 7 Flag of Germany Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 70 +54.749 5
11 16 Flag of the United Kingdom Jenson Button Honda 70 +1:07.540 20
12 10 Flag of Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 70 +1:11.299 10
13 14 Flag of France Sébastien Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 69 +1 Lap 18
Ret 21 Flag of Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 51 Spun off 17
Ret 8 Flag of Japan Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 46 Accident 12
Ret 5 Flag of Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 44 Spun off 4
Ret 6 Flag of Brazil Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault 43 Brakes 15
Ret 1 Flag of Finland Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 19 Collision 3
Ret 22 Flag of the United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 19 Collision 1
Ret 20 Flag of Germany Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 13 Gearbox 16

[edit] Notes

The track surface was significantly worn by the end of the Grand Prix.
The track surface was significantly worn by the end of the Grand Prix.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Simon Strang (2008-06-06). Massa tops damp first practice - Canada. autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
  2. ^ Simon Strang (2008-06-06). Hamilton quickest in practice 2 - Canada. autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
  3. ^ Matt Beer (2008-06-07). Rosberg fastest in final practice - Canada. autosport.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
  4. ^ Qualifying analysis - take nothing for granted in Montreal. Formula 1 (2008-06-08). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  5. ^ Martin Brundle's 'pikey' gaffe sparks equality row after F1 pit interview with Ecclestone. Telegraph.co.uk}author=Rod Gilmour (09.06.2008). Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
  6. ^ Montreal Hairpin to be resurfaced. Autosport (2008-06-08). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  7. ^ "FIA post-race press conference - Canada", The Official Formula 1 Website, 2008-06-08. Retrieved on 2008-06-09. 
  8. ^ Lewis and Rosberg get grid penalties. ITV-F1.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
  9. ^ "Canada Sunday quotes: Renault", Autosport, 2008-06-08. Retrieved on 2008-06-11. 
  10. ^ "Hamilton snatches Canadian GP pole", autosport.com, 2008-06-07. Retrieved on 2008-06-07. 
  11. ^ a b "Vettel to miss qualifying, gearbox penalty for Bourdais", F1.com, 2008-06-07. Retrieved on 2008-06-07. 


[edit] External links

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