MONTREAL — Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes looked like the man to beat at the, starting from the pole and opening a healthy eight-second lead before he ran a red light and caused an accident that ended his day at the Canadian Grand Prix yesterday.
Hamilton's disaster became Robert Kubica's luck and the BMW-Sauber driver took full advantage of the miscue to score his first career win.
The sequence of events began when Adrian Sutil of Force India stopped in a dangerous position on the track 18 laps into the race. When the safety car came out, most of the front-runners dived into pit lane. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari and Kubica were the quickest to get gas and tires.
Then a scene that's played out countless times on Montreal streets unfolded at the pit exit.
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As Raikkonen and Kubica, side by side at the end of pit lane, waited for the red light to go out, Hamilton rammed into the back of Raikkonen's car. The impact broke the nose of Hamilton's car and ripped the rear wing off the Ferrari. Williams driver Nico Rosberg joined the fray by running into the back of Hamilton.
An angry Raikkonen climbed from his stricken car and pointed at the light as he spoke to Hamilton before walking away.
"There's not much I can say," Raikkonen said after the race. "My race was ruined by Hamilton's mistake. Obviously, anyone can make mistakes, but it's one thing to make a mistake at 320 km/h and another to hit a car stopped at a red light."
Hamilton took full responsibility for the accident, especially since the team confirmed after the race that it warned the driver to watch for the red light.
"I saw the red light, but by the time I stopped, it was too late," he said after stepping from the car.
"It's a lot different if you crash into the wall and you are angry with yourself. I apologize to Kimi if I've ruined his race, but that sort of thing happens."
After the race, the stewards ruled both Hamilton and Rosberg will be penalized 10 places on the starting grid at the next race, in France, for their mistakes.
When he heard the impact and saw the rear wing fly off Raikkonen's car, Kubica knew that the race was his.
"I was helped by Hamilton because, in the end, we were the top three cars — Lewis, Kimi and me — and two of the strongest drivers were off the track," Kubica said.
"Clearly, Hamilton was the quickest driver here this weekend, but he made a mistake and you pay for them."
