However, though it was a Safety Car period which effectively settled the outcome of the race, it was not caused by the track surface. Adrian Sutil's Jordan, sorry Force India parked up with a gearbox failure. It was fascinating to watch as first smoke wafted gently from the front brakes, then flames started licking upwards before a healthy conflagration developed which had to be extinguished by a marshal. Apparently the things reach 700°C.

Up until then Hamilton had opened up a comfortable lead from Kubica who was increasingly under threat from Raikkonen. Under the Safety Car most of the leaders dived into the pits to refuel as soon as the pit lane opened. Then we were faced with the bizarre sight of Raikkonen and Kubica parked at the pit lane exit waiting for the red light to go out and Hamilton piling into the back of Raikkonen, eliminating them both. It was clear that Hamilton just had not seen the red light. I guess he may have been worked up because Kubica had jumped him during the stop and had his attention distracted by the Ferrari and the Bimmer racing down the pit lane. A ten place penalty has been imposed on him in qualifying for the next GP in France.

I don't know what's involved in that mind management stuff but later in the week Hamilton made a number of statements which seem at best to have a fairly tenuous link with reality. I suspect that had similar techniques been around at the time, Mrs Lincoln would have enjoyed the play. Incidentally did anyone apart from fellow-scribbler Tony Cotton, who e-mailed me to point it out, that Raikkonen and Kubica were parallel parked at the pit lane exit? Wonder how that would have worked out and what the Stewards would have made of it?

Massa stopped but had to stop again soon after as the Ferrari fuel rig failed to deliver any Shell; maybe his fuel was supposed to have been delivered by UK tanker drivers. Kovalainen suffered too, having to wait behind Hamilton. All this effectively removed the Ferrari and McLaren second drivers from contention, leaving the field clear for the BMWs.

Kubica re-joined in 10th when team-mate Heidfeld was in the lead, by dint of being fueled longer and staying out, and he proceeded to drive away from second placed Barrichello (!) who held up the rest of the field. Meanwhile, after passing both Toyotas early in the race, Nelson Piquet blotted his copybook again with a spin, after which he reversed smartly across the track! Fortunately there were no other cars in proximity. He later retired. Heidfeld refueled and came out still in the lead and in front of Kubica. This clearly wasn't in the plan and the Pole passed him soon after.

I rather suspect that Heidfeld obeyed orders and let him past. This must have been extremely galling for the German who probably would have gone on to take his first GP win in his ninth season of F1. It has been suggested to me that Kubica was quicker, but this isn't really born out by an analysis of the lap times. Heidfeld set third fastest lap, whereas Kubica was a place behind him, a tenth slower. However, Kubica did have a better average time lap than Heidfeld and he did do what was necessary to ensure he kept his lead after his second stop.

BMW Sauber went on to take a comfortable first and second. You can look at this as either a win in their 44th race, 41 years after their debut (Hubert Hahne - 2.0 litre Lola BMW T100, 1967 German GP), or in their 42nd race and 2 years into their current stint, but I think 15 years and 260 races is the right measure, since that is a continuation of Sauber's record and the current team is very much a continuation of that.

Peter Sauber's team was sound, but just lacked resources, which BMW have duly provided. I must admit when the Bavarian corporate giant split with the "proper racers" at Williams I never thought they'd succeed, but succeed they have and whereas Kubica's win may have been fortunate, it was by no means a freak. The team also seem to be remarkably level-headed and realistic about it, having achieved their '08 objective of winning a race. Kubica now heads the Drivers' Championship.

The last first-time winner was Honda in 2006, seven years after being formed as BAR. Honda CEO Nick Fry seems to have forgotten this because he said recently "When Honda bought this team it was a great marketing outfit but it lacked the physical things you need for a good team. When you have those you can attract a Ross Brawn and senior level engineers, and then you can start thinking about winning consistently." Even if you accept that Jenson's win in Hungary in 2006 was a bit of a rain-influence fluke, it can't have exactly been a bad team which finished second in the 2004 Constructors' Championship under Dave Richards and Geoff Willis before it passed into Honda and Fry's control. I wonder if they actually believe all that stuff they spout?

Back in Canada, the crumbling track surface did make for an exciting race, not really a surprise because where there's uncertainty there's nearly always good racing. Massa took advantage of it better than most and passed a lot of people, including one demon move where Kovalainen passed Barrichello at the hairpin and Massa passed both of them! During the race he also passed Bourdais, Webber, Nakajima, Button, Barrichello (again) and Trulli to come home fifth [I always said he was good - Ed.].

Fernando Alonso claimed he could have won the race had his team not called him in during the first Safety Car period, after which he got stuck behind Heidfeld, until he lunged past him at the hairpin, but slid wide, crashing into retirement on the next lap. This seems unlikely. Alonso's driving this year has a desperation and wildness clearly born of frustration. He isn't too coherent out of the car either, recently saying one minute the team need to focus on 2009 and the next he's not sure if he's going to stay there. Mind you, when you see that Renault have now fallen to seventh in the Constructors' it's hardly surprising.

Crazy Dave actually managed to survive the mayhem and finished on the podium. Red Bull are now leading the intense midfield battle, ahead of Toyota for whom Glock and Trulli both led the race, well, more accurately they were in front at some stage, they came home fourth and sixth respectively. Barrichello too "led" the race and survived to finish seventh, with Vettel doing well to pick up the final point.

In between the Monaco GP and this Max Moseley survived a vote of confidence by the FIA. There has been a lot of words, many from Bernie, about the future and the possibility of a breakaway series. I don't take a lot of notice and frankly, I don't really care either. As long as cars are raced there will always be some form of F1. There are many.phpects about its current manifestation that I just don't like. Canada showed yet again that what is needed are more variables, because variables equal uncertainty and uncertainty equals racing. The current micro-management of every single .phpect of F1 does exactly the opposite.

Finally, congratulations to John Surtees on being awarded the OBE. He is the only man to win World Championships on two wheels and four (for Ferrari in 1964). His achievements came in a simpler era, he even raced in the car and bike championships in the same year!

That's it, back to the gardening - those UV light bulbs don't change themselves!

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Phil shows the problem with the track

The marshals play marbles

Early on Hamilton's away and Kimi is menacing Kubica

A Safety Car period was again critical

Hamilton eliminates himself and Raikkonen - looks a near thing for Kubica

Lots of action at the hairpin...

...Where Massa made some demon moves

Rubens led, faded, but made it home in the points again

Heidfeld was a solid second, Alonso spun out

The Spaniard is clearly unhappy at the moment

...unlike Kubica

BMW achieved their traget of a GP win this year

Click for FIA lap chart. Sorry about the quality, the FIA have "updated" it from a pdf to a jpg

Lest we forget...

It's 30 years since the first Canadian GP at this circuit. Click the pic for the story of the race and the Scuderia Ferrari piloti who took part in it.

pics by Ferrari Media, FIA, Reuters, XPB, LAT, Sutton & unknown