BMW StunnerÂ
by Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media
The story of Kimi’s race.
June 8, 2008
If there was any doubt that BMW was going to be a top team this year, they put those thoughts to bed with their first ever 1-2 as a team since morphing out of the Sauber franchise.Â
Kubica introduced the Polish national anthem to a global audience and Nick Heidfeld made sure there was a German flag for a German team this weekend. The duo made the most of other’s mistakes, but no one up and down the pit lane was trying to take away from the team’s results this weekend, no matter how difficult it may have seemed for some of the other teams.
I was clobbered from behind…
Canada was expected to be a battle between McLaren and Ferrari, where the track’s high speeds and high brake demands have historically favored the Scuderia. It looked as if there would be a fight for the win between Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. But, it all came to an end when the British driver forgot what a red light meant, slammed into the back end of the Ferrari at the end of the pit lane, and took both drivers out. The young star managed to get a 10 grid position penalty for France, but he might be better off not visiting Italy for the next several weeks. I came so close to getting a flat screen TV because my wife almost put her fist through our current Panasonic when the incident occurred. Damn thing took a licking like a Timex, no plasma for me for a while…
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Massa is getting pretty good at the video games.
While some had been predicting a strong finish for BMW for some time, no one thought that we’d see David Coulthard on a podium since his McLaren exit a while ago. The elder Scot gave Red Bull five points that will come in handy with respect to TV money for a team that should be no better than an also ran if you only look at the statistics. Obviously, his years of experience are starting to lead to strong results for the team.
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…but didn’t do as well on the track.
Toyota was hopping up and down by finishing ahead of the Ferraris and McLarens, but those that have been following the sport for a while will note that a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. Fourth place for Timo Glock is a decent finish, but it still isn’t a podium, and the fact that they lost the low spot on the podium to Red Bull has to sting. Especially, since their F1 budget is still greater than the GDP of half of the members of the UN.Â
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Kimi at a better moment.
Massa tried his best to keep the tifosi somewhat happy and scored the only points for Ferrari this weekend. While 4 points for a fifth place finish doesn’t seem like anything to write home about, it was enough to ensure that Ferrari went back to Europe scared, but still leading the manufacturer’s championship.
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Off to a good start, anyway.
Jarno Trulli tried to challenge Massa, but the Toyota was still no match for the off pace Ferrari. Barichello finished a few seconds back with the other Japanese team trying to win the Nippon race, but Toyota cemented their lead this weekend.Â
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After such a strong run in Monaco, Vettel didn’t leave empty handed this weekend, and captured the last point available by finishing in eighth.
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Conditions this weekend were so hot that the course was actually falling apart. With Indy off the calendar this year, could we be faced with Canada losing their slot in favor of another US race next year if they can’t get their facilities sorted out during the off season?
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Lovely scene ruined by those necessary but truly ugly fences.
With seven races into the books, it is definitively the BMW/Ferrari/McLaren show this year. Ferrari heads back to Europe for the French Grand Prix with just a three point advantage over BMW. It seems like the stewards still have a distaste for McLaren and will try to technically eliminate the team from the standings (if it were only that easy) and Ferrari needs to get both drivers on the podium to hang on. And FOMC was worried that it was going to get boring…
 Race Results
| 1 | KUBICA | BMW-Sauber | 1h36m24.447s |
| 2 | HEIDFELD | BMW Sauber | + 16.4s |
| 3 | COULTHARD | Red Bull-Renault | + 23.3s |
| 4 | GLOCK | Toyota | + 42.6s |
| 5 | MASSA | Ferrari | + 43.9s |
| 6 | TRULLI | Toyota | + 47.7s |
| 7 | BARRICHELLO | Honda | + 53.5s |
| 8 | VETTEL | STR-Ferrari | + 54.1s |
| 9 | KOVALAINEN | McLaren-Mercedes | + 54.4s |
| 10 | ROSBERG | Williams-Toyota | + 57.7s |
| 11 | BUTTON | Honda | + 67.5s |
| 12 | WEBBER | Red Bull-Renault | + 71.2s |
| 13 | BOURDAIS | STR-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
| 14 | FISICHELLA | Force India-Ferrari | + 19 laps, accident |
| 15 | NAKAJIMA | Williams-Toyota | + 24 laps, accident damage |
| 16 | ALONSO | Renault | + 26 laps, accident |
| 17 | PIQUET | Renault | + 31 laps, brakes |
| 18 | RÄIKKÖNEN | Ferrari | + 51 laps, accident |
| 19 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 51 laps, accident |
| 20 | SUTIL | Force India-Ferrari | + 57 laps, gearbox |
| FastestLap | RÄIKKÖNEN | Ferrari | 1m17.387s |
Driver’s Championship Standings
| 1 | KUBICA | BMW-Sauber | 42 Points |
| 2 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 38 Points |
| 3 | MASSA | Ferrari | 38 Points |
| 4 | RÄIKKÖNEN | Ferrari | 35 Points |
| 5 | HEIDFELD | BMW Sauber | 28 Points |
| 6 | KOVALAINEN | McLaren-Mercedes | 15 Points |
| 7 | WEBBER | Red Bull-Renault | 15 Points |
| 8 | TRULLI | Toyota | 12 Points |
| 9 | ALONSO | Renault | 9 Points |
| 10 | ROSBERG | Williams-Toyota | 8 Points |
| 11 | NAKAJIMA | Williams-Toyota | 7 Points |
| 12 | COULTHARD | Red Bull-Renault | 6 Points |
| 13 | GLOCK | Toyota | 5 Points |
| 14 | VETTEL | STR-Ferrari | 5 Points |
| 15 | BARRICHELLO | Honda | 5 Points |
| 16 | BUTTON | Honda | 3 Points |
| 17 | BOURDAIS | STR-Ferrari | 2 Points |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
| 1 | FERRARI | 73 Points |
| 2 | BMW SAUBER | 70 Points |
| 3 | MCLAREN-MERCEDES | 53 Points |
| 4 | RED BULL-RENAULT | 21 Points |
| 5 | TOYOTA | 17 Points |
| 6 | WILLIAMS-TOYOTA | 15 Points |
| 7 | RENAULT | 9 Points |
| 8 | HONDA | 8 Points |
| 9 | STR-FERRARI | 7 Points |
NOTE: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four.