• Hamilton won his first championship in 2008
• At the Canadian GP, he drove into Raikkonen's Ferrari
• Hamilton brushed it off as 'one of those things'
It's the year 2008 and Formula 1 returns to the Canadian Grand Prix. This is the very track where, just a year before, Lewis Hamilton secured his first F1 victory. It was a moment to cherish in 2007, as the future great went about his business en route to finishing a fantastic second at the end of that season.
2008 was a much better season for Hamilton, as he quickly found himself gunning for the drivers' championship and embroiled in a title race with Ferrari's Felipe Massa. But Hamilton, driving for McLaren-Mercedes, was ready for the fight and would, eventually, seal the deal.
But everything almost came undone for the youngster at the Canadian GP, as critics and 'haters' lambasted him for a rookie error no one saw coming. And what happened would leave anyone red in the face.
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What just happened?!
As the 2008 Canadian GP got underway, Hamilton led from the front after starting on pole position. His getaway was clean, and he soon pulled out a gap to the drivers behind but. But the playing field got levelled after Adrian Sutil's Force India got stranded on the side of the road.
The safety car was deployed, which brought the field together again. Any lead Hamilton had built up to that point, came undone. But such is F1 and is it all part of motor racing. When racing resumed, Hamilton dashed into the pit lane, followed by Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Williams), and Fernando Alonso (Renault).
McLaren didn't manage to perform a clean pit stop, which resulted in Hamilton being third after Raikkonen and Kubica. Then it happened: At the end of the pit lane, the red lights were on, meaning that drivers were not allowed to rejoin the race. Raikkonen and Kubica spotted this and waited for the lights to go green, but Hamilton failed to.
He drove into the back of Raikkonen's Ferrari, forcing both drivers to quit the race. And to make matters worse, Rosberg then rammed into Hamilton's McLaren!
Looking at the 2008 season wholly, the incident at the Canadian GP was a small blemish on Hamilton's title-winning charge. After the race, Hamilton said: "It was one of those things, I guess. I apologized to Kimi if I've ruined his race. But uhm, this sort of thing happens."