A look back at Canada: 2008

At F1Today, we continue to look at memorable moments at the Canadian Grand Prix ahead of this weekend’s race around the high-speed circuit. Today we look at the 2008 race held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which saw the current championship leader lose his lead though an iconic pit lane incident. 

2008 Canadian Grand Prix

Going into the seventh race of the 2008 Season, Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers’ Championship having won last time out at the Monaco Grand Prix, leading reigning World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen, by three points, who in turn led Felipe Massa by one point.

In qualifying, Hamilton claimed pole position in Canada for the second time in his career while Robert Kubica lined up alongside him on the front row of the grid in second place. Hamilton’s nearest championship rival, Kimi Raikkonen, lined up in third place, while Felipe Massa qualified in sixth.

When the lights went out, Hamilton maintained his lead from Kubica going into the first corner and began to pull away from the BMW Sauber driver. When Adrian Sutil grounded to a halt on lap 16 to become the first retirement of the race through a gearbox failure, Hamilton had a five-second lead. This lead vanished, however, when Sutil’s Force India caught fire, meaning that the safety car was deployed.

Responding to the changing situation, Hamilton quickly darted into the pits that lap, with Kubica and Raikkonen following him in along with three other drivers that were part of the six leading cars. In the pit stop phase, Raikkonen pulled out of his garage before Hamilton and took the lead while Kubica exited alongside him, leaving the once leader of the race down in third place.

With the red light on at the end of the pit lane because of the safety car, Raikkonen and Kubica ground to a halt alongside one another while Hamilton continued to drive down the pit lane having failed to notice the red light. This resulted in Hamilton piling into the back of Raikkonen, forcing himself and his championship rival out of the race.

Hamilton’s future Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, also joined the accident scene, going into the back of the Briton’s McLaren. Rosberg however, was able to continue although he was forced to pit again for a new front wing. This resulted in both Hamilton and Rosberg being handed ten-place grid penalties for the French Grand Prix.

As other drivers pitted which resulted in seven different leaders in a very short space of time, Nick Heidfeld emerged as the race leader while Robert Kubica remained in second, however, overtook his team mate and took the lead.

Unlike the previous year’s race, from then on in, the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix saw fewer accidents although drama continued in the race, with Nelson Piquet Jr retiring through heavy brake wear, Fernando Alonso spinning out of the race from third place and crashing his Renault on lap 44, Kazuki Nakajima retiring after crashing into the back of Jenson Button on lap 46, and Giancarlo Fisichella retiring after crashing his Force India on lap 51.

A late charge from Felipe Massa at the end of the race saw the Ferrari driver make his way through the field after being forced to perform three pit stops through the events of the race, meaning that he overtook Rubens Barrichello, Heikki Kovalainen, and Jarno Trulli, to recover from a difficult race to finish in fifth.

One year after his horror crash at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, Robert Kubica crossed the finish line on lap 70 to secure his one and only win in Formula 1, leading Nick Heidfeld across the line to secure a BMW Sauber 1-2 finish. David Coulthard finished in third place, marking the final podium finish of his 15 year long Formula 1 career for Red Bull Racing.

Through this result, Kubica took the lead in the Drivers’ Championship from Lewis Hamilton, while Felipe Massa moved into second place following his fantastic recovery drive for Ferrari, making him equal on points with Hamilton, allowing one of the most exciting championship battles of the modern era to shape up for the rest of the season.

Chris Soulsby