Formula 1: Canada and France: A Look Back and a Look Ahead

At least it didn't rain...That's what many in the paddock may have thought after the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal last Sunday, and for some, they're probably wishing it had. The race was set: five different car manufacturers on the first five grid spots, something which hadn't been seen for a while. Lewis Hamilton was poised to repeat his amazing win from last year and for 17 or so laps, it seemed to be going that way.

Until...the Force India car of Adrian Sutil got into a spin and the safety car was deployed while a fire marshal extinguished the flames coming out of Sutil's car. The front runners poured into the pit to take advantage of the situation, and when coming back out, the BMW of Robert Kubica and the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen came to a halt, waiting for the red light to turn green.

It must have been strange, almost dreamlike, for Kubica to see the Ferrari next to him jolt forward, and then look over the see the front of Hamilton's McLaren plowed into the rear of it.

But this was no dream—in one moment of silliness, Hamilton had eliminated himself and Raikkonen from the race. From there the BMWs raced on to a historic 1-2 finish, and Kubica punted himself to the top of the drivers' standings, the first Pole in history to do so.

The thing I was most surprised at was how calm Kimi seemed to be when he approached Hamilton. I can remember him pushing marshals away from him whenever he crashed out from a race in the past. Good to see some of the maturity he gained at McLaren being put to use.

However, Hamilton was probably a bit more wounded by the incident. It was a moment of doziness on the McLaren driver's part and a potentially costly one. He will immediately want to correct things when he gets to France next weekend.

Hamilton should have walked away with 20 points from Monaco and Canada and built up a gap in the championship, but ended up with just 10, while Kimi hasn't scored since his third place finish in Turkey. His misfortune these past two races has seen his teammate Felipe Massa jump him in the standings, the first time he has achieved this.

Massa has now become the 'danger man'. He is very consistent in his qualifying and more threatening in a race; his bold move past Barrichello and Kovalainen got him up to fifth in the race. I think Raikkonen will bounce back as he did last year though, and go on to fight for the title with Hamilton.

But now we head off to France, which historically has been a happy hunting ground for Ferrari, who are expected to dominate. Hamilton is going to have a battle on his hands to end up with a good result now that he's been demoted 10 places due to his responsibility for the crash in Canada.

McLaren may opt for a bold strategy, but the other area they have to focus on is Kovalainen. He had a poor run in Montreal and needs to put a good result together. McLaren are down in third position in the Constructors Standings behind Ferrari and BMW.

Kubica's lead in the Drivers' Standings may not last beyond the French race, but BMW have certainly made their intentions clear and have essentially done what they came to do this year. With Hamilton starting as high as 11th and Kovy yet to come to life with the McLaren, I believe Ferrari have the edge and may run away with the race.