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Russ Bond Motorsport Report: All Hamilton in Montreal

I very rarely say this, so mark it down – the Canadian Grand Prix was brilliant, fantastic!There was more action during that race than a normal year of Grand Prix. Thank God Formula 1 teams have no clue about what to do under a safety car period.

The race itself was a cakewalk for Formula 1's new golden boy, Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton led from the pole – the first of his career – and never looked back. It was like he was in a different race than the other 21 cars.

"I'm on another planet after this - I simply can't find the words to describe what it feels like to win my first Formula 1 race,” Hamilton said. “The team has done a fantastic job and I'm so happy to be part of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes family. I made an OK start off the line - nothing spectacular but managed to get a good exit out of the first corner and whilst mayhem was happening around me I was able to keep my cool and focus.”

Robert Kubica had a huge crash at Montreal. (Photo: Paul Pedicelli, Vroomfoto.com)

That pretty much sums it up.

Behind him, the highlight reels were fast and furious. Cars crashing, the worst one being Robert Kubica's BMW Sauber, who was squeezed off the track by Jarno Trulli heading down to the hairpin. Kubica's massive crash started the second of three safety car periods. Kubica survived the huge impact and was taken to hospital, but all reports are that, other than a sprain he is fine.

Safety car periods continue to be an exercise in futility for most Formula 1 teams – they have no clue what to do. What's worse is that the FIA closes the pit lane when the safety car is deployed, just like NASCAR.

So the key is to watch the screens if

Lewis Hamilton was all smiles... all weekend. (Photo: Ed Gatner, Russbondagency.com)

you see an accident come in right away before the safety car is deployed. The problem is that when the safety car is deployed, red lights go on at both ends of the pit lane. This is what caused problems for some. Some obeyed the red light and waited, while others blew through them and, in the case of Ferrari's Filipe Massa and Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella, were given the dreaded black flag and were disqualified completely. Massa, who is third in the F1 championship standings behind McLaren pair Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, was fourth in the race when the black flag was displayed on the 52nd lap, ending his race.

It also really jumbles the order. But for the life of me, I cannot understand how after three safety car periods, with Rubens Barrichello in third place, Honda has to stop for fuel with six laps to go. Maybe

Anthony Davidson could have brought Super Aguri their first podium, but he flat spotted his tires. (Photo: Ed Gatner, Russbondagency.com)

I'll let Barrichello explain it ... Rubens:

"It was a crazy race today and we could have benefited from all the incidents and retirements to get into the points,"Barrichello said. “However the last safety car ruined our strategy, which could have brought us home in fifth position.”

Hmmm, okay that didn't work out too well, let's try the Honda Engineering Director, Jacky Eeckelaert. "Rubens drove well in very dramatic circumstances and did well to fight his way up to third place. We had planned our second pitstop for quite late in the race in order to minimize the number of laps we completed on the option tire. Unfortunately the safety car came out again just before that stop, which bunched the field back up. Without that safety car, Rubens would have dropped from third to fifth place but the final safety car consigned him to 12th position. On a positive note we were all pleased to hear that Robert

Robert Kubica in the paddock on Saturday. (Photo: Ed Gatner, Russbondagency.com)

Kubica escaped serious injury after what was a very nasty accident."

Wow! I hate to point out that you couldn't have been luckier if you tried. You needed to stop and the safety car comes out – STOP! How difficult is that to figure out?

Nick Heidfeld gave BMW its first podium of the year, and he drove a brilliant race, a well deserved podium. Alex Wurz was third, capitalizing on his one stop strategy and giving Williams its first podium.

Finally, I gotta' give a call out to Heikki Kovalainen for finishing fourth, after a terrible weekend of crashes and blown motors. Also Anthony Davidson should have been on the podium for Super Aguri, but he flat spotted his tires and arrived at the pits unexpected which sealed his fate. Takuma Sato finished a great sixth, passing Fernando Alonso in spectacular fashion during the penultimate lap ... I know Super Aguri is going to be thrilled about getting this year's Honda next year... not.

Canadian GP - Sunday - Race Results
Canadian Grand Prix Results - 10 June 2007 - 70 Laps
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY

Jeff Gordon won his fourth race of the year at Pocono. (Photo: Autodeadline.com)

ENTRANT LAPS TIME/RETIRE
1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 70 1h44m11.292
2. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW 70 4.343
3. Alexander Wurz Austria Williams-Toyota 70 5.325
4. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Renault 70 6.729
5. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 70 13.007
6. Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri-Honda 70 16.698
7. Fernando Alonso Spain McLaren-Mercedes 70 21.936
8. Ralf Schumacher Germany Toyota 70 22.888
9. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 70 22.960
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 70 23.984
11. Anthony Davidson Britain Super Aguri-Honda 70 24.318
12. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda 70 30.439

R Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota 58 Accident

R Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 54 Accident
R Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 51 Disqualified
R Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Renault 51 Disqualified
R Christijan Albers Netherlands Spyker-Ferrari 47 Damage
R David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Renault 36 Gearbox
R Robert Kubica Poland BMW 26 Accident
R Adrian Sutil Germany Spyker-Ferrari 21 Accident
R Scott Speed United States Toro Rosso-Ferrari 9 Accident

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