Lewis Hamilton wins 2007 Canadian Grand Prix

Topics:  Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton

Wikinews
June 10, 2007

McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won from pole position his first FIA Formula-1 2007 Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montréal, Canada.

Fernando Alonso, his teammate, made a mistake in the first chicane right after the start and Nick Heidfeld, BMW, slipped to the second place. Alonso fought hard to stay on the third place, but the pace car, which appeared four times today, spoiled his attempts. The double World Champion was penalized by 10 seconds stop-and-go, together with Nico Rosberg from Williams-Toyota, for the pit-stop error while the safety car was on the track. Alonso still battled for points, finishing in 7th place, 21.9 seconds behind his winning teammate. While Rosberg placed tenth as a result of this penalty, his teammate Alexander Wurz closed the podium third.

It seemed that some of the Formula One drivers forgot how to drive under safety car conditions, resulting in the black flag (disqualification) for Felipe Massa, Ferrari and Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault.

Two Finns, teammates for Fisichella and Massa, Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Räikkönen placed 4th and 5th. Takuma Sato, Super Aguri-Honda driver placed 6th.

The race featured a catastrophic accident with Robert Kubica from Poland, who crashed his BMW on the entry to the hairpin turn. There was nothing left of his car except the driver's monocoque which flew a considerable distance, bouncing from one concrete wall to another on the other side of the track. Kubica escaped the crash with just a sprained ankle and concussion, and has said he hopes to compete in the next race ( Indianapolis ).

Three other causes of the safety car appearance were Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed from Toro Rosso-Ferrari and Adrian Sutil, from Spyker-Ferrari.

This became the first Formula One victory for Lewis, after he won four consecutive second places in the previous races, with six consecutive podium finishes. He now leads the drivers' championship with 48 points, 8 ahead of Alonso. Team McLaren leads the constructors' championship with 88 points, 28 ahead of Ferrari.

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