8
June
BMW Sauber drivers Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld are celebrating tonight after a 1-2 finish in a wild Canada Grand Prix. Kubica now finds himself atop the individual standings and his team BMW second in the team standings, trailing Ferrari by only three points. BMW has been with Ferrari and McLaren for all of this season, but they have often been undermined due to stars Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen getting the bulk of the attention. That will probably change now.
Ironically, BMW received some help from both Hamilton and Raikkonen today. A little before the 20th lap of the race, Hamilton ran into the back of Raikkonen’s car while waiting for the red light at the end of the pit lane. The crash would take both drivers out of the race and Kubica would move to the front of the pack immediately.
It was quite a finish for BMW, who have now snapped the McLaren-Ferrari win streak dating back to October 2006. BMW has also achieved its goal of winning its first F1 race during the 2008 season. This was the first career win for Robert Kubica, who is now the first Polish grand prix winner as well.
7
June
Lewis Hamilton continued his hot streak with a stunning lap in Montreal today which gave him the pole position for tomorrow’s race. Hamilton had led most of the day, but Robert Kubica made an amazing lap late, which moved him up to the top spot. Hamilton had one lap remaining and responded under the pressure, beating out Kubica by more than one second. The crowd was stunned, as were the drivers and the team workers. Hamilton is really becoming a big threat to Ferrari, who must start winning again soon if they want to remain atop the team standings.
Although Hamilton ended up dominating the field, other teams had many chances, with several slot shifts early on. Both Ferrari drivers led at certain points, as did Timo Glock, Kazuki Nakajima, and Robert Kubica. But in the end, the young British star really surprised everyone with an exhilarating run, which really makes one think about how well he may do in tomorrow’s race.
Behind Hamilton will be Robert Bubica, with Kimi Raikkonen third and Fernando Alonso fourth. Nico Rosberg is fifth and Felipe Massa finds himself at the sixth opening spot. Hamilton’s teammate, Heikki Kovalainen was in the top three for a bit today, before stumbling and ending up in the seventh spot in tomorrow’s Canada Grand Prix.
5
June
The Canada Grand Prix is this weekend and the excitement has begun as the teams begin their last minute preparations for what may be a crucial race for many. Ferrari will look for another pole on Saturday, and if they succeed they will be celebrating since it’ll be their 200th in F1. Of course
Lewis Hamilton may pose a problem, as he brings over the momentum from the Monaco win and hopes to repeat in Canada to extend his time at the top of the standings. Then there is Hamilton’s teammate, Heikki Kovlainen who has had an up-down-up-down season, but recently got the backing of McLaren CEO, Martin Whitmarsh.
Renault’s Fernando Alonso is also looking forward to Sunday’s race because he is one point away from becoming only the sixth driver with 500 career points. Alonso stumbled a bit last week, not scoring any points, which ended his streak of 12 straight races with points. It also means that no driver has scored in each race this season.
This weekend will surely be an exciting one as the CGP is held for the 40th time (it will be the 30th time in Montreal.) Lewis Hamilton won last year, Alonso the year before, and Raikkonen before that. We couldn’t have asked for a more interesting scenario.
