Grand Prix du Canada - 6. 7. 8 June 2008 (Gilles Villeneuve) Montreal

After (reflections)
Nick Heidfeld - “Obviously I’m very happy with second position – very happy for Robert and for the team with our first ever 1-2. I have been with team since the beginning, both with BMW at Williams and with Sauber. It’s great to have the first victory with Robert and straight away to have a 1-2. I think it shows that we are still going in the right direction. It shows that over the last three we managed to achieve our goals, which we did set quite high for the standards of Formula 1. The goal for this year was winning a race; we’ve done that. Now for next year our target is to fight for the championship, and you can believe that we are all working flat-out for that. A big thank you to the team, especially to the guys in Hinwil who built me a new chassis after [Fernando] Alonso crashed into me at Monaco.”

David Coulthard - "I'm delighted, because I would never have expected to get a podium here this weekend. On one stop we were ultimately able to out-run the other cars that were on that strategy and I believe I led briefly, for one lap, before my stop. I've had a horrible start to the year, and all my guys on my car and the whole team and everyone back at the factory have had to do a lot of repairs because of all the various incidents, so I'm delighted for them. It's a real credit to Red Bull and the efforts they're putting in. You have to really concentrate even when you're just driving and trying to protect the brakes, because if you go even one inch off line then you're on that gravel, and it just sucks you in, so it was very difficult. Once you're there, it's incredible, you just can't believe how difficult it is to get out of that situation. Funnily enough, the car actually stopped in the pit lane. I'm not sure what happened there, but I'm glad it chose to do that after the chequered flag and not on the last lap. .....This is my fourth year at Red Bull, we started a journey four years ago to take the team forward, and like BMW we're on an upward trend."

Lewis Hamilton - “I don’t know really what happened to be honest. I was comfortably in the lead and it looked like it was going to be an easy win. We went into the pit stop, it wasn’t a great stop, and I saw the two guys in front of me battling in the pit lane and I was obviously trying to make sure I didn’t get involved with those guys. I saw the red light, but by the time I had to stop and I saw the red light it was too late. It was not a racing incident as such, but I think it’s really unfortunate. It was one of those things I guess. It’s a lot different to if you crash into the wall and you are angry at yourself – it’s not like that. I apologised to Kimi and if I’ve ruined his race, but that sort of thing happens.”

Kimi Raikkonen - "There's not much I can say. My race was ruined by Hamilton's mistake."

Felipe Massa - “It’s hard to express my feelings after a race like this. On the one hand, I am disappointed because, without my refuelling problem, I could have been fighting for a place on the podium. I would like to congratulate [Robert] Kubica and BMW: they worked really well and deserved this success.”

Race (Sunday)
Provisional Results
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 70 Winner 2 10
2 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 70 +16.4 secs 8 8
3 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 70 +23.3 secs 13 6
4 Timo Glock Toyota 70 +42.6 secs 11 5
5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 70 +43.9 secs 6 4
6 Jarno Trulli Toyota 70 +47.7 secs 14 3
7 Rubens Barrichello Honda 70 +53.5 secs 9 2
8 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 70 +54.1 secs 19 1
9 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 70 +54.4 secs 7
10 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 70 +57.7 secs 5
11 Jenson Button Honda 70 +67.5 secs 20
12 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 70 +71.2 secs 10
13 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 69 +1 Lap 18
Ret Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 51 +19 Laps 17
Ret Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 46 +24 Laps 12
Ret Fernando Alonso Renault 44 +26 Laps 4
Ret Nelsinho Piquet Renault 39 +31 Laps 15
Ret Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 19 Accident 3
Ret Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 19 Accident 1
Ret Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 13 +57 Laps 16

Q1. Q2. Q3. (Saturday)
1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.909 1:17.034 1:17.886 19
2 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:17.471 1:17.679 1:18.498 14
3 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:17.301 1:17.364 1:18.735 23
4 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:17.415 1:17.488 1:18.746 22
5 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:17.991 1:17.891 1:18.844 26
6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:17.231 1:17.353 1:19.048 23
7 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:17.287 1:17.684 1:19.089 25
8 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:18.082 1:17.781 1:19.633 21
9 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:18.256 1:18.020 1:20.848 25
10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:17.582 1:17.523 no time 15
11 Timo Glock Toyota 1:18.321 1:18.031 19
12 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:17.638 1:18.062 19
13 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:18.168 1:18.238 19
14 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:18.039 1:18.327 16
15 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:18.505 1:18.393 18
16 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:18.916 10
17 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:19.108 12
18 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:19.165 12
19 16 Jenson Button Honda 1:23.565 3
20 15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari no time

Practice 2 (Friday)
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.752 42
2 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:16.023 0.271 41
3 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.093 0.341 39
4 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.331 0.579 36
5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:16.413 0.661 27
6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:16.589 0.837 43
7 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:16.604 0.852 39
8 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:16.767 1.015 37
9 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 1:17.019 1.267 43
10 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:17.068 1.316 46
11 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:17.242 1.490 37
12 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:17.334 1.582 31
13 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:17.462 1.710 39
14 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:17.508 1.756 39
15 Timo Glock Toyota 1:17.549 1.797 31
16 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:17.559 1.807 38
17 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:17.644 1.892 30
18 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:17.813 2.061 37
19 Jenson Button Honda 1:17.842 2.090 39
20 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:18.076 2.324 17

Practice 1 (Friday)

1 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:17.553 14
2 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:17.809 0.256 12
3 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.133 0.580 10
4 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:18.182 0.629 13
5 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:18.292 0.739 12
6 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.303 0.750 8
7 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:18.712 1.159 11
8 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:18.809 1.256 12
9 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:18.971 1.418 24
10 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:19.005 1.452 13
11 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:19.093 1.540 20
12 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 1:19.228 1.675 21
13 Timo Glock Toyota 1:19.346 1.793 28
14 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:19.568 2.015 31
15 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:19.815 2.262 16
16 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:19.888 2.335 15
17 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:20.091 2.538 23
18 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:20.173 2.620 17
19 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:20.541 2.988 16

20 Jenson Button Honda 1:21.542 3.989 17

Valencia to trial street circuit with F3 and GT races

The new Valencia Street Circuit in Spain is to host a number of Formula Three and GT races next month in preparation for the venue’s debut Formula One event, the Grand Prix of Europe, in August.

With work on the new track nearing completion, the July races have been scheduled as a test to guarantee that circuit conditions are perfect for the arrival of the Formula One teams on August 22-24.

Organisers say they expect around 20,000 people to attend the ‘dry run’ on the weekend of July 26-27, when the timetable will comprise Spanish Formula Three and the international and regional GT open championship.

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Canadian Grand Prix on ITV

Live qualifying Saturday 7 June 1715-1915 ITV1
Qualifying re-run Sunday 8 June 1325-1525 ITV4
Live race Sunday 8 June 1705-2000 ITV1
Highlights Sunday 8 June 2345-0045 ITV1
Highlights re-run Monday 9 June 1800-1900 ITV4

Felipe Massa believes that the 2008 world championship remains a three-way fight and that BMW cannot be discounted. "It's clear we are up against two very strong opponents in McLaren and – even if they have not actually won a race yet – BMW. It's all getting very close and exciting and shows you need to pick up points in every race so the six points we got in Monaco is not enough, but it's not bad and the fight for both championships is still very open."

Kimi Raikkonen says he is not panicking. "Monaco has been left behind; it was a staggering blow, but there's nothing we can do about it. I had a lot of trouble to find the right grip on the wet track and we have to find out how that could happened, because usually I like driving under these conditions. It was the first race of the season where I couldn't gain any points, and we can't have another one like that, because the fight for the championship is extremely fierce.I said at the beginning of the season that I expect the title to be decided at the last moment.

A third of the season has passed, we have 35 points and we are in second place.

It's more or less what I expected.

Nothing has been won and nothing has been lost.

There is no point in panicking after the race at Monaco, because compared to last year the situation is much better.

I won't change anything in my approach for the upcoming weekend.

The designated target is to win and we will give our best."


Fernando Alonso is confident that Renault will regain its momentum in Canada

"We were not able to achieve what could have been possible in normal conditions (Monaco), and so it was disappointing.

But now I am looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend to see what we can achieve in Montreal, which is a very different circuit.

We have made some progress recently and we are trying to continue moving forward as much as possible.

Since the Spanish Grand Prix we seem to have been on the pace, and so should be in Canada as well, and we will do everything to try and make sure that we are."