The 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, held on 10 June 2007, was the sixth round of the FIA Formula One World Championship. Hamilton started from pole and led throughout for McLaren. Robert Kubica had qualified ninth and was running in the midfield pack when the crash occurred on the restart following an earlier safety car period triggered by Adrian Sutil's accident at turn four.
On lap 26, as the field accelerated out of the restart, Kubica approached the hairpin at high speed and ran into the back of Jarno Trulli's Toyota. The contact launched Kubica's BMW Sauber off the track onto the grass at the edge, where a bump in the surface sent the car airborne into and along the concrete barrier wall just before the hairpin. The BMW shed three wheels and its nose and sustained severe sidepod damage in the primary impact. It then flipped back across the racing surface and came to rest against the barrier on the opposite side of the track in the run-off area.
Initial track-side reports indicated Kubica had broken his leg, a plausible inference from the violence of the impact. Medical examination established that he had in fact suffered only a sprained ankle and concussion — injuries considered remarkable given the extent of structural damage to the car. The safety car was deployed for the third time in the race in response. Cement was subsequently placed at the hairpin around the site of the accident.
Kubica was not permitted to race at the next round, the 2007 United States Grand Prix. The decision was made by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, which judged the risk of another impact too great so soon after the accident, despite Kubica himself stating he was ready to race. Sebastian Vettel replaced him for that event.
Six drivers in total failed to finish the Canadian Grand Prix because of accidents, and ten did not finish overall. The safety car was deployed on four separate occasions during the race — an unprecedented number at the time — with Kubica's crash accounting for one of those periods.
The 2007 Canadian Grand Prix is remembered for several concurrent events. Lewis Hamilton took his first Formula One victory, becoming the first Black driver to win a Grand Prix and leading the drivers' championship at 22 years of age. Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella were both disqualified for leaving the pit lane while the red light was on — the last use of the black flag in Formula One until the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix. Alexander Wurz finished third after starting nineteenth, driving from the back of the field to score his final career podium — the last by an Austrian driver as of 2024. Takuma Sato scored Super Aguri's final Formula One points with sixth place. Kubica's crash, while not altering the race outcome directly, shaped the dramatic safety car-interrupted rhythm that defined the event and introduced Sebastian Vettel to race duty a year before his title-winning run began.
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