2007 Canadian Grand Prix

The 2007 Canadian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2007) was a Formula One motor race held on 10 June 2007 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the sixth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship.

The race was won by Lewis Hamilton, starting from pole position, in his first season in the top formula. It was Hamilton's first of an eventual record breaking 105 victories in Formula One. Nick Heidfeld finished second and Alexander Wurz was third, making it the first Grand Prix of the 2007 season that drivers from teams other than Ferrari and McLaren achieved podium positions. It was the final podium of Alexander Wurz's career and, as of 2024^[update], the last achieved by an Austrian driver.

The safety car was deployed an unprecedented four times during the course of the race. One of these periods was due to Robert Kubica's crash, which resulted in him suffering a sprained ankle and concussion. During the race Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella were disqualified for exiting the pit lane when the red light was on. Both were black flagged, and it was the last time a black flag was shown until Nico Hülkenberg at the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix.

A test session was held on May 17 and 18 at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France, with the track configured to replicate the characteristics of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the final two days after it had been in the style of the Monaco for the first two. Despite the fact that the McLaren team had dominated on the Monaco set up of the circuit, Ferrari were better on the Canadian set up.

Kimi Räikkönen had the fastest time on the first day, with a time of 1:28.833. Rain after lunch caused the test to be halted, when the test resumed Räikkönen was forced to finish early when his car experienced electronic problems. Scott Speed achieved the second fastest time, two tenths of a second behind Räikkönen, with seven tenths separating the first eight drivers. The Red Bull team focused on testing their suspension. Rubens Barrichello and Christian Klien shared testing for the Honda team over the day, however Klien's engine failed on his first lap. James Rossiter in the Super Aguri completed the most laps with 115.

Räikkönen was also the fastest on the second day with a time of 1:28.624, with Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella ending the day with the second fastest time. Fisichella also completed 111 laps, the second most of the day, behind James Rossiter's 131. Pedro de la Rosa was third fastest despite completing fewer laps than other drivers due to his engine failing early in the day. The testing session was stopped twice, when Adrian Sutil's and Jenson Button's engines failed. Red Bull continued to perform high and low downforce work and BMW performed low and medium downforce work. Fisichella was optimistic about the race after these tests saying "he had more grip, the brakes were good and the front suspension gave him a better turn-in".

During the two weeks leading up to the Grand Prix, Räikkönen and Felipe Massa released statements to the press saying they believed that everything would be different in Canada because of the very different conditions—as shown at Paul Ricard. Fernando Alonso believed McLaren had momentum from their win in Monaco, and Martin Whitmarsh said that they were realistic about dominating the race.

The race was preceded by three practice sessions. Practice started on the Friday with Alonso leading at the end of both practice sessions. In both sessions, he outpaced his teammate and the closest Ferrari driven by Felipe Massa. BMW Sauber were pleased with 5th place in the first session and 7th in the second from Nick Heidfeld despite his report that the car was "very difficult to drive". Robert Kubica's car suffered a fuel leak resulting in him being unable to post a timed lap in the morning session. Kubica also told the press after the fuel leak, "the car has been quite difficult to drive." Both Red Bull drivers finished in the top ten of the morning practice. Honda was slower than its customer team Super Aguri in the first practice, but Barrichello was faster than Takuma Sato in the second practice. Toyota's suspension problems meant that their second practice was cut short, but not before Ralf Schumacher narrowly missed a groundhog that ran across the track. After experiencing problems with Jarno Trulli's suspension, Toyota stopped both drivers for 45 minutes as a precautionary measure. By the time they got the cars back on the track, they only managed a few extra laps until the problem recurred. Heikki Kovalainen ended his practice day by going into the wall at turn seven, damaging the suspension. His teammate, Fisichella, performed better, staying in the top 8 in both sessions. At the end of the afternoon practice, Mark Webber slowed down unexpectedly before turn eight causing Scott Speed to drive into the back of the Red Bull. Webber had overtaken Speed just before this incident.