The 2008 Canadian GP Review

When he first came to Montreal in 2006, Robert Kubica's Friday practice performance on the unfamiliar track was so jaw-dropping (he topped the first session by 1.9 seconds) that BMW knew they had to promote him to a race seat at the earliest opportunity.

When he returned as a race driver in 2007, he was incredibly fortunate to escape serious injury after slamming into a concrete wall at high-speed, in one of the most violent non-fatal accidents in Formula One history.

But in 2008, Canada would be the venue for a much more positive milestone in Kubica's career - as he put the drama of the previous year behind him to take his and BMW Sauber's first ever Grand Prix win, and move into the championship lead in the process.

It was almost too good a story to be true: twelve months after cheating death, Kubica returns to the scene of his escape - and the circuit where his huge talent had first become utterly obvious to the F1 paddock - and claims his maiden win.

But it didn't feel like such a fairytale at the start of the weekend, when he began to tire of constantly being asked about his emotional response on returning to Montreal.

As he pointed out, he could hardly afford to pause for poignant thought at the accident location, seeing as it was an easy flat-out kink regarded as part of a straight.

"There is nothing to analyse about what happened last year," he insisted. "I think everybody saw it. The accident didn't happen in a corner. I don't see any problems."

After he qualified on the front row, he was again asked to consider the prospect of winning his first race at the track that could have claimed his life, but his outlook remained stoically practical.

"I think McLaren clearly has better pace as has also Ferrari, so it will be a tough race," he said. "I don't think we have the pace to win here."

Statistically he was probably right - Lewis Hamilton pulled away with ease in the first stint and Kimi Raikkonen was closing fast when the safety car came out - but when those two tangled in the pits and their teammates were delayed, McLaren and Ferrari's pace became irrelevant.

All Kubica had to do then was beat everyone else, and he's been doing that all season.

Finally after taking a superb maiden win, he allowed himself to consider the significance of breaking his duck at the scene of his infamous accident.

"Winning in Canada, where I had the big shunt last season, is something amazing," he admitted.

And he even conceded that it could be the breakthrough he needs to become a season-long title contender.

"The goal was to win a Grand Prix this season, we've done it, so we're leading the championship," said Kubica.

"Leading the world championship after seven races, with, apart from Australia, our worst place finish being fourth place, and after this race I think I'm the best qualifier in the field this season, so I think we have to push (for the title).

"Maybe in the future we won't get another chance, so I think we have to use this opportunity.

"In five races maybe we won't have a chance anymore but while we have chances, I think we have to give our maximum.

"I hope the team will give me 100 percent support to try and defend it until the last race."

Practice

Practice one - Friday am

Morning showers meant that practice got off to a slow start, with many drivers unwilling to run on the damp track that initially greeted them. Jarno Trulli looked set to be the first man to complete a flying lap, but instead he ended up slithering over the Turn 8 run-off and returning to the pits to await a dry track.

By the final half-hour conditions were more conducive to quick times, and after a late flurry of improvements as the circuit got ever quicker, it was Felipe Massa who emerged fastest for Ferrari on a 1:17.553.

Robert Kubica grabbed second from Heikki Kovalainen in the closing moments, while Lewis Hamilton popped out briefly at the end to take sixth, behind Nick Heidfeld and Kimi Raikkonen.

Most of the drivers who had been at the sharp end in the damp - such as Nico Rosberg, the Toyota duo, the Force India pair and Jenson Button - were ultimately pushed outside the top ten, with Button falling to last as he struggled with the Honda's handling in the dry.

Practice two - Friday pm

The weekend got underway in earnest after lunch, as the weather proved more co-operative.

The Ferrari duo took turns on top for most of the session, but Raikkonen ended up being their best representative in third, as first Kubica, then Hamilton hit the front in the final half-hour.

By that time Massa was on the sidelines.

"My car seemed to suffer some sort of blackout: gradually all the systems shut down and I had to stop," said the Brazilian, who then had to watch the marshals' convoluted efforts to get the car turned and safely behind the barriers.

He ended the afternoon in fifth, behind Kovalainen.

Massa wasn't the only driver who lost mileage. Fernando Alonso had two spins at Turn 1, and the second left his car beached on the kerbs, ending his afternoon. His Renault teammate Nelson Piquet was halted by a gearbox problem, while Timo Glock bent his Toyota's suspension in a brush with the wall.

Practice three - Saturday am

Normally whoever leads final practice at the halfway mark tumbles down the order as teams switch to qualifying simulation mode in the closing minutes, but in Montreal Nico Rosberg usurped Raikkonen from the top spot after 26 minutes and then stayed there as a pair of Toro Rosso crashes interrupted the latter part of the session.

First Sebastian Vettel caused a red flag when he slammed into the Turn 9 wall, doing enough damage to his chassis to prevent him from taking part in qualifying.

Just six minutes were left when the clear-up was complete, and the rest of the field duly sprinted out for a late dash on soft tyres, only for Sebastien Bourdais to have a less-damaging crash in the second Toro Rosso and bring out yellow flags. The Frenchman would require a gearbox change, adding to the team's woe - although co-owner Franz Tost was philosophical.

"We paid the price of the unforgiving Montreal walls and of having two young drivers, neither of whom had driven here in a Formula One car before Friday, pushing to the limit," he said. "Better to have tried and lost than never tried at all."

Qualifying

Part one

With Sebastian Vettel watching from the pits, 20th place on the Montreal grid was reserved before Q1 even started. The young German had been a promising 10th in practice despite his crash, but missing qualifying at least meant he didn't have to cope with a track that was crumbling in several corners - much to his teammate Sebastien Bourdais' annoyance.

"The track is falling apart and the conditions are really difficult," he said after going 16th fastest, although his gearbox penalty would put him alongside Vettel at the back.

"After the morning, I could not afford to make any mistakes and run the risk of not taking up a start place for the race and in these conditions it was just unreal. This is one of the worst days of my career so far."

Jenson Button wasn't having much fun either. Deeply unhappy with his Honda's behaviour throughout practice (where he had failed to get higher than 19th in any session), he then suffered a gearbox problem on his first flying lap - leaving him three seconds slower than the rest of the field and out of the session.

The Force Indias completed the eliminated quintet, with Adrian Sutil narrowly beating Giancarlo Fisichella to 17th.

Part two

By now, the track conditions were getting increasingly difficult, leaving several drivers enraged. Jarno Trulli called the situation "a disaster" after spinning on the 'marbles' once in Q1 and twice in Q2, leaving him 14th - the first time he had missed Q3 all year.

Mark Webber easily made the cut in fourth place, only to then spin into the wall at Turn 7.

"I think we need to bring Motocross bikes here tomorrow not Formula One cars because it's not really realistic," he said. "It's the same for everyone, but it's not really a racing track like that."

Timo Glock wasn't impressed by the flaky surface either, but he managed better than Toyota teammate Trulli - out-qualifying the Italian for the first time and taking 11th, having only been edged out of the top ten when Nick Heidfeld managed a last-gasp improvement.

Ultimately Glock missed a top ten place by just 0.011 seconds, while Williams' Kazuki Nakajima came within 0.042 seconds of his first Q3 appearance as he claimed 12th.

While most complained about the track, David Coulthard's issues were with traffic as he ended up a frustrated 13th. He felt Bourdais had impeded him in Q1, while in Q2 it was Nelson Piquet who attracted the Scot's displeasure. The Renault driver continued to struggle and only managed 15th.

Part three

The poor track conditions had already meant that only nine cars would run in Q3 (with the sidelined Webber already set for 10th), and the circuit issues also proved critical in deciding the positions, as some drivers shrugged off the treacherous surface, and others were left bemoaning it.

Lewis Hamilton was clearly least flustered by the problem. Already fastest in Q1 and Q2, he threw in at 1:18.510 on his first flying lap of Q3 to take provisional pole by 0.4 seconds.

Then when Robert Kubica inched ahead by 0.012 seconds with his final lap, Hamilton simply dug a little deeper and secured pole by a commanding 0.612-second margin.

He felt he had been able to adapt to the crumbling track sections.

"The track is chewing up in a couple of corners," Hamilton said. "I had to try and get around that and stick it out there. I think on the last lap I found a solution to it and managed to find a bit of time."

By contrast, Kimi Raikkonen - who ended up third behind Kubica - branded the circuit a "joke". Both Ferrari drivers felt they had a quick enough package for pole had they not been left scrabbling for grip at the particularly patchy Turn 10 hairpin, with Felipe Massa ending qualifying back in sixth.

He would start behind the delighted Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg. Alonso had been as high as second before Kubica and Raikkonen improved, and Renault engineering director Pat Symonds believed this performance - given his "sensible" fuel load in Canada - was even better than the Spaniard's front row start at home.

Rosberg was also delighted with his season-best fifth place start.

"I managed to keep everything completely under control and avoid getting offline, and the reward was fifth, which is a great place to start tomorrow," he said.

Behind Massa, Heikki Kovalainen was 1.203 seconds slower than McLaren teammate Hamilton and only seventh-quickest. He felt he had lost out in traffic, but mainly blamed himself.

"The traffic meant I couldn't get into a proper rhythm so I'm a bit annoyed with myself," Kovalainen said. "But what can I do? I just have to drive a better race tomorrow."

He would share row four with Nick Heidfeld, who was 1.1 second off teammate Kubica's time but felt he was making a little progress with his qualifying woes.

While Button had an abysmal time in one Honda, Rubens Barrichello got the other one into the top ten (his first Q3 appearance since Monaco 2007) and claimed ninth, feeling his vast experience had made the difference on the flaky track.

Qualifying results

Pos  Driver       Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3       Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1:16.909  1:17.034  1:17.886   19
 2.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           1:17.471  1:17.679  1:18.498   14
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              1:17.301  1:17.364  1:18.735   23
 4.  Alonso       Renault              1:17.415  1:17.488  1:18.746   22
 5.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      1:17.991  1:17.891  1:18.844   26
 6.  Massa        Ferrari              1:17.231  1:17.353  1:19.048   23
 7.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     1:17.287  1:17.684  1:19.089   25
 8.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           1:18.082  1:17.781  1:19.633   21
 9.  Barrichello  Honda                1:18.256  1:18.020  1:20.848   25
10.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1:17.582  1:17.523             15
11.  Glock        Toyota               1:18.321  1:18.031             19
12.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      1:17.638  1:18.062             19
13.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     1:18.168  1:18.238             19
14.  Trulli       Toyota               1:18.039  1:18.327             16
15.  Piquet       Renault              1:18.505  1:18.393             18
16.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:18.916                       10
17.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1:19.108                       12
18.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  1:19.165                       12
19.  Button       Honda                1:23.565                        3
20.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari

The Race

The state of the track caused huge anxiety in the 24 hours leading up to the race, amid fears that if an hour of qualifying could have such a dire effect, the circuit would never stand up to the demands of a 70-lap race.

In the event, the organisers' determined repair efforts during the build-up proved sufficient, and though the temporary concrete patches were far from pretty (and didn't completely solve the problem), the crumbling surface turned out not to be the biggest issue of the race...

Indeed at first it looked like Montreal might not live up to its chaotic reputation, as the opening laps unfolded in serene fashion.

Lewis Hamilton easily held the lead into the first corner, as Robert Kubica resisted a brief challenge from Kimi Raikkonen to retain second place.

Just behind them, Nico Rosberg slipped past Fernando Alonso to take fourth ahead of Felipe Massa, while Rubens Barrichello - despite being laden with a very healthy fuel load - out-foxed Heikki Kovalainen and Nick Heidfeld through the opening complex to take seventh.

Both would soon re-pass him, though, with Kovalainen drafting ahead before the end of the lap, and Heidfeld successfully diving through at the hairpin on lap four.

The hefty Honda then became something of a midfield roadblock; Williams' fast-starting Kazuki Nakajima, and the two Red Bulls (Mark Webber ahead of David Coulthard) queuing behind it.

A few seconds further back, the even more fuel-heavy Toyotas - Jarno Trulli leading Timo Glock after a slow getaway by the latter - were under pressure from Nelson Piquet's Renault and Adrian Sutil's Force India, with the young German's teammate leading Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso) and pit lane starters Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button at the tail of the field.

Up front, Hamilton rapidly stretched out a six-second lead over Kubica, who initially got away from Raikkonen before the Ferrari began to creep back onto his tail as its early tyre graining eased and the BMW encountered similar problems.

Rosberg edged clear of Alonso in fourth, with the Renault under pressure from Massa, while Kovalainen lost ground to this group as he too began to suffer tyre graining, which allowed the charging Heidfeld to close in once he was free of Barrichello.

All of this was rendered irrelevant on lap 17, though, when the safety car was deployed so that Sutil's Force India could be retrieved - the hero of Monaco having parked on the approach to Turn 3 with a gearbox failure.

The majority of the top half of the field grasped the opportunity to refuel as soon as the pits were open, with Hamilton leading the charge into the pitlane but Raikkonen and Kubica reaching the exit first after quicker stops by Ferrari and BMW.

The pair were wheel to wheel down the pitlane, but spotted the red light at the exit as the safety car train came past, and duly came to a halt side by side at the stop line.

This came as something of a shock to Hamilton, who ploughed into the back of Raikkonen's car, eliminated both from the race in the most bizarre fashion.

Rosberg was also caught off-guard and ran into Hamilton's McLaren, dislodging his front wing. Both the Williams driver and Hamilton would receive 10-place grid penalties for France as a punishment - a decision the innocent Raikkonen fully supported.

"Obviously, anyone can make mistakes, as I did two weeks ago in Monaco, but it's one thing to make a mistake at 200km/h but another to hit a car stopped at a red light," he said.

"I am not angry because that doesn't achieve anything and does not change my result. I am unhappy, because I had a great chance of winning."

Hamilton admitted his focus had been on Raikkonen and Kubica's tussle rather than the pit lights.

"As I exited the box, I saw two cars jostling for position ahead of me in the pit lane," he explained. "Obviously, I didn't want to get involved in their tussle, and was trying not to do so, and then all of a sudden they stopped and by the time they'd come to a halt, it was too late for me to avoid them."

Team boss Ron Dennis defended his man.

"No racing driver would deliberately put himself out of a Grand Prix, and the plain fact is that Lewis didn't realise that the cars in front of him were coming to a halt until too late," he said. "It's difficult for a driver to decide whether to focus on the lights or on the cars ahead in situations like that."

Whether Hamilton and Rosberg had been foolish or unfortunate was of no concern to Kubica, who might have been caught up in the shunt had he tucked in behind Raikkonen rather than parking parallel to the Ferrari.

"I just heard a big shunt," Kubica said. "I saw Kimi's car moving and realised it was Lewis. I have to be grateful to Lewis as he chose Kimi and not myself..."

The unscathed Kubica was therefore the best-placed of the drivers who had already pitted when racing resumed, running 10th ahead of Alonso and his teammate Piquet. The Brazilian had put bold moves on both Toyotas in the early laps, then benefited from an excellent pitstop to gain more ground.

Kovalainen was delayed waiting behind Hamilton before he could be serviced, so rejoined behind the Renaults, but he fared better than Massa - who had to make a second stop at the green as his fuel rig had failed to deliver at the first attempt, leaving him last and 30 seconds behind the leaders.

So with McLaren and Ferrari down to one delayed car apiece, BMW looked in great shape. Not only was Kubica the leading driver amongst those who had pitted, but his teammate Heidfeld had been elevated into the race lead by virtue of staying out.

Better still, he was fuelled for a long first stint two-stopper rather than an ultra-heavy one-stop plan, so could sprint away from his weightier pursuers after the safety car, leaving second-placed Barrichello (who still had Nakajima and the Red Bulls on his tail) behind at around two seconds per lap.

Trapped behind the Toyotas, Fisichella and Vettel, Kubica was losing even more time to Heidfeld with each circuit, and when the German pitted from the lead on lap 29, he rejoined just ahead of Kubica despite being fuelled to the end of the race, as BMW switched him to a one-stop plan and fitted the less popular soft tyres.

But running lighter and without the need to conserve his tyres for another 41 laps, Kubica was clearly going to be much faster than his teammate, and sure enough he swept past into Turn 1 next time around.

"Let's just say I didn't make it too difficult," said Heidfeld.

When free of traffic, Kubica was two seconds faster than Heidfeld at this stage, but clear air was in short supply as he had to constantly wait behind one-stoppers over the next 12 laps, as first Barrichello, then Coulthard, and finally each of the Toyotas took a turn at the head of the field before pitting.

Glock became the last man in the field to stop on lap 42, allowing Kubica to finally hit the front. He was 11 seconds ahead of Heidfeld, and was due to pit seven laps later. Time to get going...

"That was my seven laps of qualifying," Kubica said. "I never struggled so much and I was pushing very hard as I knew I had to make around a 21 second gap, and I managed to do 24, so it was great."

He rejoined with a four-second lead, and had little trouble extending it as Heidfeld drove gingerly on his now-tired soft rubber.

Apart from Heidfeld, the only other potential threat to Kubica's win had been Alonso, but the Renault remained frustrated behind Heidfeld while the Pole sprinted away at the front. Alonso did manage to get past the BMW once at the hairpin only to run wide, and he eventually crashed after getting caught out on a patch of crumbling circuit at Turn 7 and spinning into the wall.

But he was more frustrated with the team's strategy than the track conditions, in hindsight feeling that Renault should have left him on track with the similarly-fuelled Heidfeld rather than pitting him with the other leaders.

His teammate had retired five laps earlier; Piquet parking with brake problems shortly after a spin at Turn 3.

The Renaults' demise meant that Coulthard emerged in third, where he would stay until the end to claim his first podium since Monaco 2006 and his first points of a hitherto depressing year. He had jumped Nakajima and Barrichello in the pits by staying out slightly longer, and was then able to pull away from the Honda with ease as it rapidly burned up the soft tyres.

Nakajima fell even further back into the traffic after his lap 33 stop and ultimately made an undignified exit when he dislodged his front wing on the back of Button's Honda, and then sledged into the wall in the pit entry when it folded under his wheels.

Behind Coulthard, fourth place remained wide open until the final yards of the race. Barrichello held the position at first, under pressure from the recovering Kovalainen and Massa, but the Ferrari driver passed both in a single, superb, move when the McLaren took the Honda slightly wide while overtaking it at the hairpin on lap 50.

Two laps later both Massa and Kovalainen dived in for their final pitstops (the safety car having come too early for them to fuel to the finish) as their teams feared that another yellow was imminent - Fisichella having crashed at Turn 4.

In the event, the Force India - which had fallen out of points contention when Fisichella stalled in the pits - was removed under local yellows, leaving Massa and Kovalainen to resume their charges from seventh and 10th positions.

That moved the Toyotas up to fifth and sixth, with Glock ahead of Trulli thanks to his additional three laps on low fuel. Both gained another place when Barrichello slid off the road briefly at Turn 3 on lap 59, but soon came under renewed pressure from Massa, who had also easily passed the Honda.

The Toyota duo proved tougher, yet ended up gifting Massa one position when Glock ran wide at Turn 1 and rejoined in Trulli's path - forcing him to back off and allowing the Ferrari to split them.

Glock atoned for this by resisting Massa's pressure and securing his first points for Toyota in fourth, though, with Trulli taking sixth to complete the delighted team's first double points finish since Suzuka 2006.

The fading Barrichello held on for seventh, just ahead of Vettel, who converted his pitlane start into a point with a quietly impressive drive that saw him battling the Toyotas until losing 13 seconds with a fuel rig problem at his stop. He subsequently fended off Kovalainen in the closing laps, as McLaren ended the day without a single point after the Finn continued to struggle with his tyres.

Rosberg was further delayed by a puncture, then lost out to Kovalainen when an attempted move on Vettel failed to pay off. He claimed 10th, with Button ending a "tough and disappointing" weekend by finishing a quiet 11th.

He gained a place when Webber made an error on the penultimate lap, the Australian having earlier tumbled down the order when his two stop strategy deposited him in heavy traffic after his first pit visit. The Red Bull came home 12th, while Bourdais was the final finisher in a lapped 13th.

So a race that some doubted would even take place as the track fell apart ended with less carnage than expected, but with the Ferrari/McLaren duopoly finally broken - and in fine style, as Kubica won by 16 seconds over Heidfeld and 23 seconds ahead of Coulthard, and moved into the lead of the championship.

On a day when so much could have gone wrong (and did for their rivals), BMW got every decision absolutely right, and their drivers seized the opportunity presented to them and delivered an unforgettable result that left the team's technical director and long-time BMW and Sauber employee Willy Rampf almost lost for words.

"What a day!" he exclaimed. "I just can't put my feelings into words after that race. Both drivers and the entire crew did a perfect job today.

Robert Kubica crosses the line to win his first grand prix © LAT

"Today everything paid off - decisions on the day as well as all the work done over the last two and half years."

Only one question remained: should this be regarded as an upset result, or the start of a trend?

"I think we should find a happy medium now," said Heidfeld.

"First of all, we can all be very proud of this one-two for the team. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that from now on we have to win each race.

"There were other cars that were quicker, especially Hamilton, but in the end Robert won with the BMW and that's what counts today."

Race results

70 laps; 305.270km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  1h36:24.447
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +    16.495
 3.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    23.352
 4.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +    42.627
 5.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +    43.934
 6.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    47.775
 7.  Barrichello   Honda                 (B)  +    53.597
 8.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    54.120
 9.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    54.433
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    54.749
11.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +  1:07.540
12.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +  1:11.299
13.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:17.387

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)    54
Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)    49
Alonso        Renault               (B)    47
Piquet        Renault               (B)    42
Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)    20
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)    20
Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)    14


World Championship standings, round 7:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Kubica        42        1.  Ferrari                73
 2.  Hamilton      38        2.  BMW Sauber             70
 3.  Massa         38        3.  McLaren-Mercedes       53
 4.  Raikkonen     35        4.  Red Bull-Renault       21
 5.  Heidfeld      28        5.  Toyota                 17
 6.  Kovalainen    15        6.  Williams-Toyota        15
 7.  Webber        15        7.  Renault                 9
 8.  Trulli        12        8.  Honda                   8
 9.  Alonso         9        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      7
10.  Rosberg        8
11.  Nakajima       7
12.  Coulthard      6
13.  Vettel         5
14.  Barrichello    5
15.  Glock          5
16.  Button         3
17.  Bourdais       2

Team-by-Team

Massa tops first practice then misses the end of the second session with an electrical problem. Both drivers then struggle with track conditions in qualifying and start only third (Raikkonen) and sixth (Massa).

Raikkonen runs third behind Kubica but beats both the BMW and leader Hamilton to the pit exit at the first stops, only to be rammed out of the race by Hamilton.

A fuel rig problem and consequent extra stop puts Massa to the back, but he charges through to fifth by the flag.

An incredible weekend ends with the team's first win and a glorious one-two finish that puts Kubica into the championship lead.

He had earlier qualified on the outside of the front row and held second in the first stint, before moving into the lead after the pitstop chaos and the one-stoppers' pit visits.

A scintillating charge earns him a sufficient lead over Heidfeld to make his last stop and rejoin ahead, which he duly does before pulling away to win for the first time in F1.

Heidfeld is moderately satisfied with eighth on the grid, and appears in the lead after staying on track during the yellow. He charges away from the heavier cars, then converts to a one stop when he pits on lap 29. That leaves him in a head to head with teammate Kubica for the win, which he ultimately loses, but still claims a fine second to complete the team's perfect afternoon.

Montreal starts and ends badly for Renault, although Alonso again stars in qualifying in-between.

The Spaniard spins twice in practice, with the second error leaving him beached on the kerbs, while gearbox problems sideline Piquet early on Friday afternoon.

Piquet struggles in qualifying again and starts 15th, but Alonso takes a sensational fourth on a fairly heavy fuel load. He loses out to Rosberg at the start and runs fifth, while Piquet passes both Toyotas early on then benefits from a great stop to appear on Alonso's tail after the safety car.

Unfortunately he then spins before retiring with brake problems, and Alonso soon joins him on the sidelines after crashing while desperately trying to get around Heidfeld for second before he has to pit again.

For the third successive year, Rosberg qualifies superbly in Montreal only for his race to fall apart. He starts fifth and passes Alonso for fourth at the first corner, only to hit Hamilton (who had already hit Raikkonen) at the pit exit and smash his front wing. He later suffers a puncture and finishes 10th.

Nakajima is 12th in qualifying, briefly runs second thanks to his one-stop strategy, but falls back into the midfield after pitting slightly earlier than his nearest rivals. He then breaks his front wing on Button's Honda and is pitched into the wall when it folds under his wheels as he tries to pit.

Coulthard ends his recent results drought with a superb third place after a sensible drive from 13th on the grid. He had hit out at traffic in qualifying, but on race day a perfectly-timed single stop gets him ahead of main rival Barrichello and onto the podium.

Webber crashes on the crumbling track surface in Q2 just after making the Q3 cut, so starts 10th. His two-stop strategy proves counter-productive given his position amongst the traffic, and he eventually finishes 12th after a late spin.

Glock brushes the wall on Friday but rebounds to out-qualify Trulli for the first time. They start 11th and 14th, with the Italian vociferous about the track surface issues.

Trulli gets ahead of Glock at the start as both run slowly on vast fuel loads. But the safety car works in their favour, and they each lead briefly before their stops. The strategy works perfectly, and they ultimately finish fourth and sixth, with Glock jumping Trulli in the pits and then inadvertently allowing Massa to pass his teammate by accidentally blocking the Italian after making an error.

A disastrous Saturday morning sees both Vettel and Bourdais in the wall, with the former sitting out qualifying after damaging his monocoque, and the latter requiring a new gearbox - although Bourdais does go 16th-fastest in Q1 at least.

The Frenchman, who felt his Champ Car experience at the circuit proved more misleading than useful, makes little progress in the race and finishes 13th and last - raging about track conditions afterwards and describing the weekend as the worst of his career.

By contrast, Vettel rises from a pitlane start to eighth place, despite a fuel rig problem at his (well-timed) single stop.

Barrichello is delighted to reach Q3 for the first time in a year and starts ninth, briefly running seventh early on despite his heavy fuel load.

His one-stop strategy allows him to lead several laps, but also leaves him struggling on heavy fuel and fragile soft tyres in the second half of the race. He consequently tumbles from fourth to seventh.

Button has an awful weekend. Slow and unhappy with the car in every session, a gearbox problem then leaves him at the back of the grid and he fares little better in the race, crossing the line 12th.

Back to reality after the highs and heartbreak of Monaco, Sutil nevertheless out-qualifies teammate Fisichella for only the second time as they take 17th and 18th.

Sutil challenges the Toyotas at first, only to retire early with gearbox failure.

Fisichella stays out during the safety car and runs as high as seventh, but he stalls at his pitstop and loses ground, before eventually spinning out when 14th. The anti-stall system proves unhelpful and he has to retire.

Hamilton tops second practice and dominates both qualifying and the opening part of the race, only to crash into Raikkonen in the pit exit when he fails to see the red light, ending his race.

Kovalainen has a curiously off the pace weekend. He cites traffic after only qualifying seventh, loses a lot of speed to tyre graining in the race, and drops down the order after having to queue behind Hamilton in the pitlane. He spends a long time stuck behind Barrichello and can only manage to get back to ninth place after his final stop.

Lap-by-Lap

Pre-race: Jenson Button (unscheduled changes to suspension set-up) and Sebastian Vettel (replacement chassis) are ordered to start from the pit lane.

Lap 1: On pole position for the second time this season - and the eighth time in his grand prix career - Lewis Hamilton makes a clean start to lead into Turn One.

Nick Heidfeld pulls away from Rubens Barrichello after the restart © XPB

Robert Kubica holds off Kimi Raikkonen to retain second and Nico Rosberg vaults to fourth, ahead of Fernando Alonso.

Felipe Massa runs sixth from Heikki Kovalainen, Rubens Barrichello, Nick Heidfeld, Kazuki Nakajima, Mark Webber, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock, Nelson Piquet, Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella, Sebastien Bourdais (penalised five grid positions for an unscheduled gearbox change), Button and Vettel.

Hamilton leads by 0.7 seconds.

Lap 2: Hamilton pulls 1.4 seconds clear. The order remains unchanged.

Lap 3: Hamilton posts a 1:18.211 to extend his advantage by 0.4 seconds. Kubica is 1.6 seconds clear of Raikkonen.

Lap 4: Hamilton laps in 1:17.506. His advantage grows to 2.9 seconds.

Lap 5: Heidfeld passes Barrichello for eighth. Vettel wrests 18th from Bourdais.

Lap 7: Hamilton is 3.3 seconds clear of Kubica, with another 2.8 seconds to Raikkonen. Rosberg is 3.5 seconds further adrift in fourth, 1.6 seconds clear of Alonso.

Lap 9: Piquet passes Glock for 14th.

Lap 10: Hamilton leads by 5.0 seconds.

Lap 12: Piquet passes Trulli at the hairpin and moves up to 13th. Kovalainen is under pressure from Heidfeld.

Lap 14: After a string of personal bests, Raikkonen laps in 1:17.387: he has closed to within 1.4 seconds of Kubica. Sutil stops at Turn Three - the day's first retirement.

Felipe Massa overtakes Heikki Kovalainen in the hairpin © XPB

Lap 17: With Sutil's car still trackside, the Safety Car is deployed. Button pits.

Lap 19: Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Alonso, Massa, Kovalainen, Piquet, Bourdais and Button pit.

Raikkonen and Kubica get away before Hamilton but stop at the pit exit light where Hamilton runs into Raikkonen and Rosberg clips the back of both. Hamilton and Raikkonen are out.

Lap 20: Rosberg pits again.

Lap 21: Massa pits again.

Lap 22: Restart. Heidfeld leads from Barrichello, Nakajima, Webber, Coulthard, Trulli, Glock, Fisichella, Vettel, Kubica, Alonso, Piquet, Kovalainen, Button, Bourdais, Rosberg and Massa.

Lap 25: Heidfeld leads by 9.3 seconds. He is lapping in the mid 1m17 seconds, Barrichello in the high 1m19 seconds. Rosberg passes Bourdais.

Lap 27: Heidfeld extends his lead to 12.3 seconds.

Lap 28: Piquet spins at Turn Four. He drops to 17th - and last.

Lap 29: Heidfeld and Webber pit. Barrichello leads from Nakajima and Coulthard. Massa passes Bourdais.

Lap 30: Fisichella makes a long pit stop.

Lap 31: Kubica passes Heidfeld to lie seventh - the leading driver with a pit stop under his belt.

Lap 33: Nakajima pits. Massa passes Webber at the hairpin - but doesn't make the corner. Webber reclaims 13th.

Kazuki Nakajima damaged his front wing and crashed in the pit entrance © XPB

Lap 34: Massa passes Webber properly.

Lap 35: Rosberg pits.

Lap 36: Barrichello pits. Coulthard leads.

Lap 37: Coulthard and Vettel pit. Trulli and Glock run one-two for Toyota.

Lap 39: Trulli pits. Glock leads from Kubica and Heidfeld. Massa passes Nakajima and Button.

Lap 40: Piquet pits and retires.

Lap 41: Glock is 0.4 seconds clear of Kubica, with Heidfeld 11 seconds further adrift. Alonso is right behind the German.

Lap 42: Glock pits, as does Bourdais.

Lap 44: Alonso passes Heidfeld at the hairpin, but slides wide. Fisichella pits.

Lap 45: Alonso crashes at Turn Two.

Lap 46: Kubica leads Heidfeld by 20.7 seconds. Coulthard, third, is catching the German.

Lap 47: Nakajima pits for a fresh nose after a contact with Button. He slides into the wall as he enters.

Lap 48: Kubica continues to lap at least two seconds faster than everybody else. He leads by 25.1 seconds.

Lap 49: Kubica pits - and rejoins with his lead intact. Glock passes Webber.

David Coulthard returned to the podium with Red Bull Racing © LAT

Lap 51: Kovalainen passes Barrichello at the hairpin and Massa passes both of them.

Lap 53: The lapped Fisichella spins off at Turn Four. Massa, Kovalainen, Button and Webber pit.

Lap 54: Kubica leads from Heidfeld, Coulthard, Barrichello, Glock, Trulli, Massa, Vettel, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Button, Webber and Bourdais.

Lap 55: Webber passes Button.

Lap 59: Barrichello slides over the grass at Turn Four and loses places to both Toyotas. Glock is now fourth, from Trulli.

Lap 60: 10 laps to go. Kubica leads Heidfeld by 12.6 seconds. The German is now 7.3 seconds clear of Coulthard. Kovalainen passes Rosberg for ninth.

Lap 61: Massa passes Barrichello. Kovalainen runs wide at Turn Six.

Lap 64: Kovalainen is closing on Vettel.

Lap 68: Massa passes Trulli for fifth.

Lap 69: Webber slows.

Lap 70: One year after his serious accident at the same venue, Kubica scores his maiden F1 victory.

Heidfeld is second from Coulthard, Glock, Massa, Trulli, Barrichello, Vettel and Kovalainen.

Rosberg, Button, Webber and the lapped Bourdais are the only other finishers.