A year ago it was the scene of Lewis Hamilton's first Grand Prix win.
Robert Kubica was injured in one of the most dramatic high speed crashes seen in recent years. Fortunately he had only a sprained ankle but it looked as if it was going to be a lot worse. Testimony to the design safety of these cars.
Everything was on course for a repeat of 2007 with Hamilton sitting on pole and confidence high after winning at Monaco.
But the Canadian circuit is prone to stoppages and safety cars are common sights.

Whether the safety car needed to go out is debatable but it did.  The pit lane opened. The leaders dived in. Raikkonnen left the pits first and stopped at a red light at the pit exit. Hamilton on losing his lead in the pits was concentrating on switching all the preset buttons needed to get a F1 car from pit lane mode to racetrack mode and didn't notice the red light until too late. Despite braking hard he hit the back of Raikkonen's Ferrari causing severe damage to both cars resulting in forced retirements on lap 20.
Hamilton was given a ten place grid penaltry for the French Grand Prix which means he'll start at best 11th on the grid at Magny Cour. Typically the winner comes from the first four grid positions so a major set back for Hamilton's title hopes.

Both Renaults also retired and BMW Sauber took an amazing 1-2.

Photo top - Kubica hits the apex of turn two, Canadian GP Montreal 2008.

Race results

70 laps; 305.270km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1h36:24.447
2. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 16.495
3. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 23.352
4. Glock Toyota (B) + 42.627
5. Massa Ferrari (B) + 43.934
6. Trulli Toyota (B) + 47.775
7. Barrichello Honda (B) + 53.597
8. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 54.120
9. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 54.433
10. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 54.749
11. Button Honda (B) + 1:07.540
12. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:11.299
13. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:17.387

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 54
Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 49
Alonso Renault (B) 47
Piquet Renault (B) 42
Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 20
Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 20
Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 14


World Championship standings, round 7:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Kubica 42 1. Ferrari 73
2. Hamilton 38 2. BMW Sauber 70
3. Massa 38 3. McLaren-Mercedes 53
4. Raikkonen 35 4. Red Bull-Renault 21
5. Heidfeld 28 5. Toyota 17
6. Kovalainen 15 6. Williams-Toyota 15
7. Webber 15 7. Renault 9
8. Trulli 12 8. Honda 8
9. Alonso 9 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
10. Rosberg 8
11. Nakajima 7
12. Coulthard 6
13. Vettel 5
14. Barrichello 5
15. Glock 5
16. Button 3
17. Bourdais 2