It's good to be back again and my thanks to Arthur Beattie and Nicky Paul-Barron for taking on the website's GP reports whilst I was unavailable.

And so to Round 8 of what, statistically at least, is becoming a unique season. Michael Schumacher had won six out of the seven previous races and although at times he has looked completely dominant, the surprising thing is that the others seem totally unable to grasp the opportunities which are occasionally thrown their way. Williams and, even worse, McLaren have taken leave of their perches and it has really been left to the BARs and Renaults to offer up resistance which, on occasion, they do quite well.

As qualifying unfolded at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit no-one was more surprised than Ralf himself when he put the Williams on pole, with team-mate Montoya on the second row. At this point-and-squirt circuit, with no quick corners, the Williams' ineffective aerodynamics were less of a feature and the undeniable BMW grunt pulled the car nicely out of the slow corners and down the straightaways.

Jenson Button again drove well to take second grid slot for BAR, both car and driver looking smooth and confident. Team-mate Sato was also heading for a good grid position but got over-excited at the last chicane which, according to a BAR team member, he took at 50 km/h quicker than ever before. I will never know how he managed to avoid hitting the wall as he did a quick 360 and carried on. The two Renaults also looked threatening on the second and third rows and their massive understeer was a sure sign that they had dialled the car in for maximum back-end grip at the start.

So how come there's been no mention of Ferrari so far? Fearing that their Bridgestones were simply not going to be a one lap match for their rivals' Michelins, both Michael and Rubens' cars were topped up with fuel in anticipation of a two-stop race for what is normally a three-stopper. Sixth and seventh on the grid was the result, with lots of crossed fingers that no-one else was planning on two-stopping. In the event the Renaults elected the same strategy and it looked bleak for the Ferraris.

It was a shame that the first Renault, that of Trulli, disappeared straight after the start. Something broke in the rear suspension - maybe it was just the prodigious grip what done it. Ralf, Button, Alonso and Montoya took off at the front, with the two Ferraris looking comfortable in fifth and sixth place. If they could keep the front runners in sight then a simple calculation showed that the Ferraris' two stops would beat the others three stops - except for Alonso! After the first round of pit stops Ralf took over at the front from Button, and Michael had leap-frogged Pablo into third place. Alonso had been hobbled by a long 16 second stop with fuel rig troubles.

The next 15 or so laps were fairly static with the two Ferraris cruising along looking forward to their eventual pit stop advantage. After the others had stopped for the second time Michael and Rubens moved into a narrow lead and we were now down to the exciting prospect of all six leaders within 20 seconds of each other and all still having to make one more stop. Michael slowed somewhat, possibly to conserve his brakes, and this put Barrichello right on his tail, with Ralf rapidly closing in third place. At this point Alonso retired with a broken drive shaft, removing possibly the biggest threat to a Ferrari win.

Barrichello had one or two dithers up alongside Michael but never looked convincing, the latter driving just quick enough to make anything other than a banzai attempt impossible. Because, of course, team orders are no longer allowed....

At the final stops Barrichello had a very poor one and then promptly left the track at one of the chicanes, both incidents losing him a lot of time. This put Ralf back into second behind his older brother, who seemed quite able to control the race from the front.

So all the excitement that had been brewing up for an enthralling finish came to nothing. With yet another GP decided in the pits Michael crossed the line for his seventh win of the season, his seventh at the Canadian Grand Prix and his 77th in total. Ralf did his dented reputation a power of good by finishing second and a few seconds behind came Barrichello, ahead of a lacklustre Button and the second Williams of Pablo Montoya.

And that's how we thought it had ended but some hours after the end of the race it was announced that both Williams and the Toyotas had been disqualified for running over-size brake scoops. That cost Ralf his second place and moved Barrichello up for yet another Ferrari 1-2. It also moved Jenson Button forward a slot, giving him an extra championship point and he remains the nearest threat to the red ones.

At times it had been an intriguing race, although no-one actually passed any one on the track in what could be termed a racing manner. It was all done in the pit stops. Unfortunately the final shoot-out never happened and we spectators were left with a feeling that we had seen yet another race that was nothing special.

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