Hamilton takes first victory in dramatic Canadian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton Canada Winner

Lewis Hamilton takes his first Formula One victory in an incident-packed Canadian Grand Prix, which featured four Safety Car periods.

Hamilton drove an impressive race, which was full of action and drama. But he made no mistakes throughout the weekend and deserves this fantastic result. An amazing achievement when you consider that this is only his sixth race as a Formula One driver. To record his maiden victory with a faultless drive from pole position is fantastic. Expect plenty more in the next couple of races this season.

In second was BMW-Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld who also drove a great race. Alex Wurz finished third for Williams, his first podium for the team after making his race debut ten years ago at the wheel of a Benetton. The Austrian commented that it was a “dream” result after a difficult weekend.

Heikki Kovalainen was another driver who was pleased to finish in the top eight with a fine fourth position. The Finn ended a miserable weekend filled with engine failures and incidents to record his first points of the season. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was fifth but seemed to lack pace and at one point, got overtaken by a sublime Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri!

In fact, Takuma was driving a sensational race and not only did he passed a Ferrari, the popular Japanese driver even got ahead of Fernando Alonso, with a superb overtaking manoeuvre in the last two laps! That was the real highlight of the Canadian Grand Prix in my mind.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso ended a disappointed Grand Prix with seventh after making three serious errors into the first corner. The first of which was on the opening lap when the Spaniard tried an over-ambitions move to take the lead. Alonso ran wide – just like the scenario in the Spanish Grand Prix – went onto the grass and was lucky not to hit anyone as he returned back to the track.

His bad luck didn’t end there as Alonso received a 10-second penalty for pitting during the first Safety Car period – before the pit lane was opened. So he dropped even further places and to cap it off even more, suffered the embarrassment by being overtaken by a Super Aguri from an inspired Sato…

Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher finished in the last remaining points position with eighth. Only twelve cars from a field of 22 finished in this crazy Canadian Grand Prix. Two were disqualified (Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa) due to exiting the pits despite the red light being shown… While the other remaining cars either broken down (in the case for poor old Jenson Button, who didn’t even start due to a clutch problem) or crashed.

Back to the man of the race, Lewis Hamilton who celebrates this “historic” day with a superb lights-to-flag victory in only his sixth Formula One starts.

Starting from pole position, the 22-year-old Briton became the first rookie to win in the sport since Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya for Williams back in 2001.

Hamilton showed great composure, while those around him were scraping into walls and pirouetting around corners, to confirm his status as a future champion.

“It has been a fantastic day, this is history,” said Hamilton. “To come here the first time in Canada, been a fantastic season already, I have been ready for quite some time for the win but just when or when.

“The team gave me a perfect car, the safety car made it a bit boring, but once we got going it got more exciting.

“We sat behind the safety car for quite some time and then dulled down for a while, then began building it (the gap) back again. The team did a great job getting me in and out before the first safety car.

“The last few laps I was just counting them down, I could see the board and I am the kind of guy to push until the end, and if you make one mistake you are on the marbles and in the wall. So I just wanted to enjoy it.

“I have to dedicate this one to my dad (Anthony) because without him it wouldn’t all be possible.”

Hamilton has now finished on the podium in all his Formula One races so far.

The Briton says he now plans to enjoy being at the head of the championship, but is already looking to consolidate it in Indianapolis next Sunday.

“There is plenty of time to enjoy it. I have to say hello to all my family back home, and all the fans and the team – at Woking, Stuttgart and Brixworth to prepare the car.

“Going into Indy, I go there with great confidence, we have to try to continue with the performance we have.”

So a fantastic result for Lewis but the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix will be remembered mainly for the horrifying accident that befell Robert Kubica. The Pole is believed to have escaped only with a broken leg after a high-speed impact with the wall approaching the hairpin.

After the first Safety Car, the race resumed for only a brief period before Kubica clipped the back of Jarno Trulli’s Toyota while running flat out on the approaching to the hairpin. The BMW-Sauber ran wide onto the infield grass, got airborne over an access road and slammed into the inside wall, before rolling back across the track and coming to rest on its side in the hairpin run-off.

Kubica was carefully removed from the car and taken to the medical centre, where he was awake and alert. He was airlifted to hospital in Montreal for further checks, and subsequently diagnosed with a broken leg.

Hopefully Robert will make a full recovery, but it remains unclear when he will be back behind the wheel. My best wishes goes to him for surviving that nasty-looking crash on lap 27.

Hamilton’s win has moved him into the clear lead in drivers’ championship standings, eight points in front of McLaren’s team-mate Alonso. Felipe Massa is already 15 points behind in third.

The next race is the United States Grand Prix at the world’s famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Can Lewis score his second race victory or will Felipe, Fernando and Kimi strike back? We will find out in the next seven days!

Canadian Grand Prix result – 70 laps

1. HAMILTON McLaren 1h 44m11.292s
2. HEIDFELD BMW Sauber +4.343
3. WURZ Williams-Toyota +5.325
4. KOVALAINEN Renault +6.729
5. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +13.007
6. SATO Super Aguri-Honda +16.698
7. ALONSO McLaren-Mercedes +21.936
8. R. SCHUMACHER Toyota +22.888
9. WEBBER Red Bull-Renault +22.960
10. ROSBERG Williams-Toyota +23.984
11. DAVIDSON Super Aguri-Honda +24.318
12. BARRICHELLO Honda +30.439
R. TRULLI Toyota +12 laps
R. LIUZZI Toro Rosso-Ferrari +16 laps
R. MASSA Ferrari Disqualified
R. FISICHELLA Renault Disqualified
R. ALBERS Spyker-Ferrari +23 laps
R. COULTHARD Red Bull-Renault +34 laps
R. KUBICA BMW Sauber Accident
R. SUTIL Spyker-Ferrari +49 laps
R. SPEED Toro Rosso-Ferrari +62 laps
R. BUTTON Honda +70 laps

Fastest lap: ALONSO 1:16.367

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