Hamilton's Mistake is Kubica's Gain - Canadian GP Recap

Based on his form all season, it looked like a distinct possibility that BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica could post his first ever victory in 2008. Here at Canada, where the Pole suffered a horrible looking crash in 2007, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve may have gone from his least favorite to his most beloved track on the schedule.

Lewis Hamilton started from pole in Montreal, with Kubica starting second, Kimi Raikkonen third and Fernando Alonso fourth. The start of the race was clean, with all 20 cars making it through the first lap safely. Despite starting on the "bad" side, Kubica managed to hold off Raikkonen for second.

The early segment of the race is a ho-hum affair, as the lead pack holds position. Things make a serious change on lap 14, when Adrian Sutil parks the car on track. Because Montreal is a tight circuit with little run-off area, a safety car needs to be deployed.

Based on strategy speculation, it would have been likely that Lewis Hamilton would stop within the next couple of laps for fuel and to change off the softer tires. Most of the top cars would join him in the pits on lap 19 during the safety car period after the pit lane was opened by race control.

At the end of pit lane, the red lights remained on, signaling that all the pitting cars had to remain there for the time being. Kubica and Raikkonen were poached right in front of the line. Almost immediately after, Hamilton comes up behind Raikkonen. However, the McLaren driver failed to stop, rear ending Raikkonen and ending both their days. Kubica and his car were unharmed, although Nico Rosberg would clip Hamilton's damage to ruin his chances at points. It will have further rammifications for Hamilton and Rosberg, who will have a 10 spot penalty at the French Grand Prix.

Here's a look at it for yourself, it you didn't catch the broadcast:

Felipe Massa, Raikkonen's Ferrari teammate, would have pit troubles of his own, as the team failed to give his car enough fuel for the stint, forcing an additional stop that cost him the win. He would come back to claim fifth place though.

Assuming the lead at this point was [[Nick Heidfeld, Kubica's teammate who did not pit. He was joined up front by Honda's Rubens Barrichello, Williams' Kazuki Nakajima, the Red Bulls of David Coulthard and Mark Webber, and the Toyotas of Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli. Nakajima would knock himself out, and Webber would spin himself out of the points.

On quality, the win would likely come from three sources: Heidfeld, who would employ a one stop strategy, Kubica, or Fernando Alonso. After every car had stopped the order went Kubica-Heidfeld-Alonso. Alonso looked prime to pass the German, but on lap 44 Alonso's Renault fails him and his race ends.

Kubica was able to build enough of a lead on his teammate that his stayed ahead of Heidfeld after his final pit stop. In the closing laps the big drama came from Massa, who worked his way through the field. One highlight was a brillant pass Massa made in the hairpin, passing both Barrichello and Heikki Kovalainen. While he would challenge Timo Glock, he ran out of laps to make the pass.

The checkered flag would wave for Robert Kubica making lots of history. It is the first win for a Polish driver in Formula One history, as well as the first win for BMW-Sauber in the series. With third place, David Coulthard returned to the podium for the first time in two years. After spending the entire season miring in the 10th-12th range, Timo Glock scores a fourth place finish and his first points of his second go-round in F1.

Top 8

1. Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber)
2. Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber)
3. David Coulthard (Red Bull)
4. Timo Glock (Toyota)
5. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
6. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
7. Rubens Barrichello (Honda)
8. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso)

The Canadian Grand Prix has dramatically altered both championships. Robert Kubica has now become the leader of the Drivers' Championship, 4 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. Ferrari retains the Constructors' Championship lead, but by a mere two points over BMW-Sauber, who earned the maximum 18 points to Ferrari's 4.

Formula One returns in two weeks with the French Grand Prix. There Rubens Barrichello will become F1's all-time leader in starts. Will Kubica be able to stay atop the championship, or will this be a one and done occurrence?