From the Pulpit

On the morning of Monday, June 11, Daniel Morelli drove a BMW Canada-supplied BMW X3 from the Delta Centre Ville Hotel in downtown Montreal to the city's Sacre-Coeur Hospital, to visit the driver he manages, Robert Kubica.

But, were it not for the tireless safety work, sponsored by FIA president Max Mosley and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone (and carried out by many others, less eminent but no less worthy), that has taken place over the past few years - and especially since the tragedies of Imola 1994, when both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna were killed on track - Morelli would have been driving to the mortuary instead. Of that there can be little doubt.

Morelli walked to his driver's hospital room, to find him sitting up, fully dressed and eager to check out. Despite having driven his BMW Sauber into a solid Armco wall at 182 mph the previous day, he had sprained an ankle, which was a bit sore, but nothing more. And, as he limped briskly to the BMW X3 that Morelli had driven to the hospital that morning, he said, "Hey, Daniel, give me the keys. I'll drive." And drive he did.

Robert Kubica crashes in the hairpin at Montreal © LAT

As miracle escapes go, it is, of course, quite astounding.

At a Paul Ricard test in May 2005, McLaren's then third driver, Alex Wurz, had the highest-speed Formula One accident of all time, at the same seventh-gear corner, S de la Verrerie, at which Elio de Angelis had been killed while testing a Brabham-BMW in May 1986.

Wurz's McLaren-Mercedes hit the barrier at 209 mph, then ricocheted wildly along the track, its wheels and wings torn off in all directions, before it came to a halt hundreds of metres from the scene of the shunt itself; yet Alex stepped out of the car and drove home to Monte Carlo that afternoon.

It was another miracle.

Except that it wasn't, was it? Wurz's and Kubica's survival was and is a wondrous testament to the strength of modern Formula One cars. And, at the risk of repeating myself, all any of us can say to that is: bravo to all concerned.

If the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix was a wonderful feast of televisual excitement - which I'm sure it was - then, apart from Lewis Hamilton's fairy-tale debut win, its most dramatic moments were the Kubica shunt, of course, and Wurz's astonishing climb from 20th place on the grid to third place at the flag.

And if the Austrian's success owed something to good fortune, well, few drivers have ever achieved good results via bad fortune; and good fortune must always be capitalised on, which is what Alex did.

But, prior to Sunday's race, Wurz had been one of four drivers about whom nasty rumours were being spread, the others being Kimi Raikkonen, Heikki Kovalainen and Ralf Schumacher. What rumours? Well, that these four were unlikely to see out the 2007 season.

First, let's deal with Schumacher, whose performances this year have indeed been lacklustre. The Montreal whisper was that he had the two North American races to convince Toyota's bigwigs that he was worthy of his place, and that a performance clause in his contract would allow them to lay him off, albeit on full pay, on the evening of Indy Sunday, if he hadn't yet scored a sufficient number of points.

His eighth place in Canada, and the single point it earned him, bringing his 2007 running total to two (he was eighth in Australia), may or may not be enough to save him.

But who would replace him? Franck Montagny (Toyota's test driver)? Why? If he was that good, why would his manager, Flavio Briatore, have let him go from Renault?

Adrian Sutil was and perhaps still is a possibility, as I suggested in this place a week ago, but his unforced error in the Montreal race may have made Toyota's motorsport president John Howett think twice about him; this isn't a decision that Howett, a corporate survivor and wily with it, can afford to get wrong.

Timo Glock wins the GP2 race in Barcelona © LAT

Timo Glock? Undoubtedly, there are those within Toyota who rate him highly - but BMW would be unlikely to release him from his testing contract until Kubica has been back up to speed for some time. Gutsy Polish insouciance or no, they need a good potential back-up for Robert right now.

Might Sebastien Vettel, BMW's other oft-lauded contracted test driver, deputise for Kubica instead (or as well, depending on how long Kubica remains out of action)? Maybe, but Vettel is no longer the Munich golden boy, as he once was.

Gossips in Montreal were also to be heard whispering that Michael Schumacher, no less, would return to race for Ferrari at Magny-Cours, replacing Raikkonen. Personally, I find that one very difficult to believe.

Kimi is contracted; moreover, some say his contract is worth US$51 million per year. He may not yet have driven as gloriously this year as he had in previous years, or indeed as well as many (including me) had predicted he would, but the shortfall has been slight; there's therefore no question that he could have defaulted on a performance clause.

No, I reckon that this particular rumour was put about by rivals, possibly at McLaren, who saw it as a perfect way of further discombobulating poor Kimi, the sudden uncompetitiveness of whose Ferrari is in danger of driving him to drink (if that were still possible, if you see what I mean).

So, no, I don't expect Michael to race for Ferrari at Magny-Cours, but of course I could be wrong.

Last, then, what about the rumour that Kovalainen won't see out the season? Well, the story goes that, frustrated by Heikki's lack of success so far this year, and anxious to appraise test driver Nelson Piquet Jr sooner rather than later, Renault's Flavio Briatore asked Frank Williams on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix whether he'd be prepared to run Kovalainen, plus US$5 million, in place of Wurz.

One can only assume, though, that, again, this is nonsense. Certainly, Frank would lose the respect of Williams employees at all levels if he were to do Briatore's bidding so submissively, especially if money were involved, but there are three other reasons why it would be a crazy idea, too:

(a) Alex has scored points in the last two Grands Prix, and, according to Williams's own technical director, Sam Michael, "raced brilliantly" in Montreal;

(b) As with Montagny, if Kovalainen was that good, why would his manager, Briatore, have let him go?; and

(c) Kovalainen was a bitter rival of Nico Rosberg's in GP2 in 2005. Introducing Heikki to an arena in which Nico is now performing fantastically well, namely Williams, would serve only to unnerve Team Willy's 21-year-old star.

Alex Wurz and Nico Rosberg © XPB/LAT

Besides, Williams need Wurz, and their technical bods know it. The FW29 is a decent car - but, without the sterling preseason work that Alex did in testing, it wouldn't be, and even Nico wouldn't be doing as well with it as he is currently.

Racing teams are just that: teams. They need harmony. Ferrari don't need the disruption of a long legal battle with Raikkonen's hard-nosed managers, David and Steve Robertson. Renault would be better off helping Kovalainen through his troubles than foisting him on a Williams team who would blame him daily for not being Wurz.

Besides, alongside harmony, teams need in their drivers a blend of youth and experience, of charisma and determination, of enthusiasm and expertise. In Nico and Alex, Williams have a perfect blend.

Moreover, both Rosberg and Wurz are uncommonly intelligent. Had he not made it as an F1 driver, Nico would have become an aerodynamicist; indeed, prior to bagging a GP2 drive, he had already won a place at Imperial College, London, to study aerodynamics.

Alex? Very thoughtful, and as sharp as a tack. Original, too. Get this: when, in January of this year, the Austrian daily newspaper, Die Presse, asked every major Austrian sports star to come up with their ideal fantasy headline for 2007, most of them came up with imaginary lines chronicling make-believe successes in major events - be it golf tournaments, tennis championships, football matches or whatnot.

Did Alex do the same? Did he, for example, suggest "Wurz wins Monaco thriller!" or "Wurz takes title in Brazil!" or the like?

No, he did not. He came up with this: "Shock confession by Bush administration: 'We can now admit that we were surprised, albeit pleasantly surprised, at how easy it was to make the world's governments and media dance a political waltz to our financial beat.'"