Team mate Jarno Trulli, however, was unfortunate, the Italian well on course for his fourth podium of the season before he suffered an exploding brake disc with just eight laps to go.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, named after the legendary French-Canadian driver, always places heavy demands on brakes because there are four points on the lap that demand heavy braking down from maximum speed. Teams are able to monitor brake temperatures and wear via sensors on the car and telemetry but, in Trulli’s case, his telemetry went down before the second pit stop.

“It was very unfortunate because I made a good start, picked up a couple of places and was definitely going to finish on the podium,” the Italian said.

For Schumacher, points at least brought some consolation after a difficult afternoon.

“I didn’t get a good start at all,” he explained, “I lost a couple of places and then found myself behind Nick Heidfeld. I was quicker but Montreal is not one of the places where it is easy to overtake. Then, when the Safety Car came out, it’s timing was as bad as it could have been for me and I again lost track position. To score three points is at least a positive outcome.”

Kimi Raikkonen made up for the disappointment of Nurburgring when he took his third victory in four races for West McLaren Mercedes, ahead of seven times champion Michael Schumacher, whose second place equalled the best result of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Rubens Barrichello made it a Ferrari 2-3, ahead of young Brazilian Felipe Massa, whose fourth place equalled his best-ever F1 finish. Mark Webber was less than 1s behind for the BMW Williams F1 Team, ahead of Schumacher Jr’s sixth-placed Toyota TF105. Red Bull Racing’s David Coulthard and Christian Klien claimed the final points in seventh and eighth places.

Panasonic Toyota Racing’s John Howett said: “We obviously knew that braking is always an issue at Montreal but our main problem was that the telemetry on Jarno’s car went down and so we could not see his brake temperatures. We were trying to gauge it based on Ralf’s condition but it’s always an approximation because you are dealing with a different driver in a different position running in different circumstances. It’s very disappointing because I think Jarno deserved a podium for his effort today. Ralf lost time with the Safety Car and that was a shame, but in the final analysis it is satisfying to come away with another three points.”

In the drivers’ championship, Trulli remains third place with 27 points, while in the constructors’ championship Mild Seven Renault leads with 76 points, West McLaren Mercedes has 63 and Panasonic Toyota Racing and the BMW Williams F1 Team both have 47, two points clear of defending champions Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. The championship now heads to Indianapolis for round 9 on June 19.