Round eight of the season sees F1 head back across the Atlantic for the Canadian Grand Prix. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was built on a man-made island in the middle of the island St Lawrence Seaway, which has been the permanent home of the race since 1978 when it moved from Mosport.
The 2.7-mile circuit was built at the same time as venues for the 1978 Olympic and Paralympic Games which had been used by Expo 67 and situated on Notre-Dame Island and was re-purpose as a rowing and canoeing basin for Montreal’s 1976 Summer Olympics. The Olympic Basin is still North America’s largest artificial rowing basin, used by F1 for the annual boat race on Saturday night.
The circuit is a challenge for drivers while the high speed following circuit and was modified after a few years into a circuit which requires power and downforce. This means with the barriers close mistakes can be costly, it’s a technical circuit with lower-speed chicanes breaking the long straight between the Hairpin and Turn One.
The most famous corner is the chicane breaking up the long straight (Turns Twelve and Thirteen,) since 1999 this has been called The Wall of Champions. These two straight are also the DRS Zones for the race. The circuit was designed in a similar way to Silverstone by connecting roads together to create a circuit one which is another hybrid between a street and permeant circuit.
The final chicane is arguably one of the best and worse places to overtake, as get it wrong you will crash out. The name started in 1999 after three champions, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve crashed into the wall in 1999.
Other champions who have crashed into the wall include Carlos Sainz Jr, Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Derek Warwick and Jenson Button. It’s a tricky low-speed chicane following a very long straight which adds to the high brake demands on the cars. These factors all raise the chances of drivers making mistakes and going off there isn’t as much tarmac run off as modern circuits which can lead to virtual and real safety cars as the barriers are not far away.
The circuit in my view rewards a driver who can get into a rhythm and is prepared to break late into the chicanes and is also a driver’s circuit. Lewis Hamilton took his first win here in 2007 and has always gone well here though it’s unlikely given the strength of Red Bull, eighth victory this weekend would equal his record in Budapest and Silverstone, and Schumacher’s at Magny-Cour.
Red Bull goes into the weekend having dominated the first seven races, this circuit will once again play to their strengths but it is still a race where strategy, communication and the weather can all play a key role.
The first race here was in alteration with Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Quebec, where the Canadian Grand Prix was held in 1968 and 1970. Mont-Tremblant, located 1+1⁄2 hours northwest of Montreal, was much like Mosport Park in that it was a spectacular circuit which had significant elevation change and was very challenging.
That first race saw a Brabham one-two with Jack Brabham leading his teammate Denny Hulme home. The following season saw Chris Amon lead from the start until lap seventy-three when his gearbox broke; the McLaren team finished 1–2 with Amon’s countrymen Hulme and Bruce McLaren winning.
The 1969 race saw the two Jackie’s (Jackie Stewart and Jacky Ickx) battle for the lead until lap thirty-three, when Stewart tried to pass Ickx instead crashing into the back marker Al Pease who had been lapped several times before becoming the only driver to be disqualified for being too slow.
The 1974 event saw Fittipaldi win while his championship rivals Clay Regazzoni finished 2nd and Jody Scheckter crashed heavily after a brake failure on his Tyrrell. The race along with 1976, was one where James Hunt found out that his nine points from Brands Hatch were taken away and he was disqualified; Hunt won the Canadian Grand Prix event that year, driving furiously throughout the race.
Gilles Villeneuve, who the circuit is named after, made his debut at this race for Ferrari in 1977, but the safety of Mosport was called into questions by several accidents when the circuit was deemed too dangerous and moved to Montreal.
Villeneuve was the first winner in Montreal in 1978, the following two years saw Alan Jones win. Despite a big startline pile-up with involved Jones’s Brazilian championship rival Nelson Piquet after he and Jones collided going into the very fast Droit du Casino corner, in 1980. Piquet jumped into his spare car with a more powerful qualifying engine; but the engine blew up and Piquet retired from the race.
Following Villeneuve’s death at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, weeks later at the circuit was renamed the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. But that year’s race was also marked by a driver fatality, Riccardo Paletti was killed after crashing into the Ferrari of Didier Pironi, who had the pole position, and stalled the engine of his Ferrari. Pironi lifted his hand to signal the problem just as the lights switched to green, which was too late to abort the start.
1985 saw Ferrari finish one-two with Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson taking top honours from Frenchman Alain Prost, while Lotus gained their final ever lock-out of the front row when Elio de Angelis and Ayrton Senna started one-two 1986 was a competitive race. Finn Keke Rosberg in a McLaren charged through the field, caught and then passed Nigel Mansell.
Like many races in the late-1980s and early-1990s, the fight for victory was between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, as well Nigel Mansell. Senna took victory in 1990 despite the weather and several incidents. The only expectation was 1991 when Mansell looked on course for the win before his Williams failed on the final lap and allowed ; Nelson Piquet took his twenty-third and final F1 victory in a Benetton. Austrian Gerhard Berger won the 1992 event after the dominant Mansell spun off after a collision with Berger’s teammate Senna.
1994 event saw the very fast Droit du Casino curve being turned into a chicane Michael Schumacher won. Ferrari’s Jean Alesi won the following year, which would be the only win of his career. Jean Alesi inherited the lead a when Michael Schumacher pitted with electrical problems and Damon Hill’s hydraulics failed.
In the 1990s the race was the only won in North America as the United States and Mexico dropped off the calendar until 2000. Between 1997 to 2004 (except 1999 and 2001) saw a romp of Michael Schumacher victories, all in a Ferrari. 1999 saw Finn Mika Häkkinen win, and in 2001, there was the first sibling one-two finish in the history of F1, as Ralf and Michael Schumacher topped the podium. The Schumacher brothers would repeat it again in 2003.
2001 was also noted for Alesi achieving Prost’s best finish of the season; he celebrated his fifth place by doing several doughnuts in his vehicle, and throwing his helmet into the crowd.
2007 saw Lewis Hamilton take his first pole and win, first of wins seven in Montreal, after fending off teammate Fernando Alonso Hamilton built a lead early on. Then a dramatic crash on lap twenty-six saw Robert Kubica saw the BMW Sauber driver crash violently into the wall on the approach to L‘Epingle only suffered a sprained ankle and concussion.
Hamilton’s drive seen as one of the best performances of his career and made him the then-youngest pole sitter, race winner and championship leader.
Kubica would bounce back the following year taking his only race win following a pit lane shunt involving Hamilton, on lap 19 after crashing into the back of Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari followed by Nico Rosberg crashing into Hamilton.
Hamilton returned to the top step in 2010, beating teammate Jenson Butten in one of the more quieter races in Montreal with no real accidents the only retirements coming from mechanical failures for HRT, Virgin and Caterham.
2011 saw one of the all-time classics and the longest ever race lasting for over four hours in biblical conditions, the first drama of the race in the wet was Button pushing teammate Hamilton into the wall taking Hamilton out early on with him dropping to last. As the rain increased early on the safety car came out followed by a red flag.
Two hours later the race resumed and saw Button come from last to second on the final lap held by safety cars and incidents for other drivers who had been caught out by the slippery circuit. In the closing stages button had worked himself into second, but on what had already been an crazy afternoon, Vettel would make a mistake on the last lap running wide at Turn Six allow Button to pass and win.
Hamilton would win for the second time in 2012. The 2014 race was the first time that season the race was not won by Mercedes with Daniel Ricciardo taking his first win. After both Mercedes were hampered by a KERS failures half way through the race, which ended behind the safety car following a Collison between Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa.
Hamilton would win three in a row between 2015 and 2017. But his 2019 victory during his title fight with Vettel saw the German overtake Hamilton for the lead-off track, Hamilton was squeezed towards the outside wall and was forced to slow down to avoid a collision. Vettel was given a five-second penalty, meaning he had to build a five-second lead and failed.
After the race, rather than park his car in parc ferme, Vettel pulled over much earlier in the pit lane and had to be collected by an official to attend the podium. On the way, Vettel removed the #1 sign from in front of Hamilton’s car and moved it to the empty space where his car should have been parked.
Race & Circuit Guide
| Round | 08 of 22 | |
| Race | Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix du Canada 2023 | |
| Venue | Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal, Quebec | |
| Configuration | 2002 Grand Prix | |
| Circuit Length | 4.361 km (2.710 miles) | |
| Laps | 70 | |
| Race Distance | 305.270 km (189.694 miles) | |
| Lap Record | Race | 01:13.078 (Finland Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W10, 2019) |
| Outright | 01:10.240 (Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, SF90, 2019) | |
| Most wins drivers | Michael Schumacher (7)
Lewis Hamilton |
|
| Most wins manufacture | Ferrari (14) | |
Fast facts
- Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton share the record for the number of wins at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Schumacher won seven times between 1994-2004, while Hamilton equalled his tally with victory in the 2019 race.
- The 2001 Canadian Grand Prix was unique in that it was the first time two brothers finished 1st and 2nd in an F1 race. Ralf Schumacher won and Michael followed him home.
- Robert Kubica’s victory here in 2008 was the first, and so far only, F1 victory by a Polish driver.
- German drivers have had twenty-four podium finishes at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Strangely, Sebastian Vettel’s third-place finish in 2014 is the only time a German has finished on the final step of the podium here.
- The last corner (Turn Thirteen) is a tricky chicane which leads on to the start-finish straight. It has become known as the Wall of Champions due to the number of F1 champions it has caught out over the years. The list of champions to have had accidents includes Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel. Schumacher, Hill and Villeneuve all crashed into it during the 1999 race weekend
Event timetable
Session |
Local (EDT) |
UK (BST) |
Friday |
||
| P1 | 13:30-14:30 | 18:30-19:30 |
| P2 | 17:00-18:00 | 22:00-23:00 |
Saturday |
||
| P3 | 12:30-13:30 | 17:30-18:30 |
| Qualifying | 16:00-17:00 | 21:00-22:00 |
Sunday |
||
| Race | 14:00 | 19:00 |
What happened in 2022?
Max Verstappen beat Fernando Alonso in changeable conditions taking pole by six-tenths once a dry line had developed. Carlos Sainz put his Ferrari third fastest a tenth and a half behind Alonso and was the only Ferrari to take part in Q3 after Charles Leclerc played no further part after Q1. Leclerc opted to take a fresh power unit following an engine failure in Baku meaning he exceeded his allocation for the year meaning he starts nineteenth.
Sainz had looked able to challenge Verstappen for pole, going fastest in the first sector with a personal best in the middle sector despite losing time he remained in contention until the final corner. Through The Wall of Champions, the Spaniard slid while he kept it out the wall, but it threw away his chance of a maiden pole.
Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes fourth, but the Englishman was eight-tenths behind Sainz, the best qualifying for the seven-time champion this season at a circuit he has excelled at throughout his career. The Englishman described it has his best qualifying of the season comparing it to his debut race in Melbourne 2007.
Verstappen held off Sainz in the final fifteen laps despite the heavy pressure from Sainz to take his sixth win of the season. The Red Bull and Ferrari had been close thanks to a late safety car caused by Yuki Tsunoda locking up as he exited the pits and crashed the Alpha Tauri at Senna (Turn Two). During the final sprint Sainz couldn’t get close enough along Casino Straight to try and overtake.
Hamilton finish third ahead of teammate George Russell, while Leclerc recovered from nineteenth thanks to a grid penalty to finish fifth after penalty after taking a new power unit. A post-race penalty for weaving down the straight saw Alonso drop from seventh at the flag to ninth behind Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou. Lance Stroll rounded out the top ten finishers in his home race.
Race Result – 1) M. Verstappen, Red Bull, 01:36:21.757 | 2) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +00:00.993 | 3) L. Hamilton, Mercedes, +00:07.006
What to watch for?
Red Bull is the team to beat as they are really dominant the feeling I had, as well as many others that if they were good in Monaco and Barcelona, it would be difficult to see them beaten anywhere. The challenge now I believe is on Sergio Perez, he needs to stop Max Verstappen as soon as possible by Perez, looking back on last season and history momentum is a very difficult thing to stop.
Red Bull know this is more a Baku-style street circuit, though its permeant in its nature it can still throw up surprises. Though the forecast has been unseasonably warm in recent weeks and there have been forest fires in Quebec the weather is forecast to cool down with rain forecast at its highest in the race window on Sunday.
But they are really strong, and they will want to continue their dominance and Max Verstappen despite this only being round eight of a twenty-two race season a third of the way through this season. This I think is unlikely they can win every race but Montreal is looking very favourable towards them.
Aston Martin still look to be Red Bull’s closest challengers, but Mercedes are returning to the front and I think we need a few more weekends to see how close Mercedes have come following the upgrades and Barcelona. I think they could challenge for wins with Aston if something untoward happens to Red Bull.
Ferrari, Aston and Mercedes look to me to be getting closer to each other at this point in the season, Mercedes I believe are the most improved team compared to Bahrain, I think it will be interesting to see what they learnt in Barcelona with the upgrades and how that changes things like set up and how to extract the most out of the car.
That means along with the walls being close, grass and gravel means that mistakes can be costly as there is a higher risk compared to modern circuits for safety cars. This circuit is a great circuit for racing we often see close battles and we know being able to reach to events such as safety cars can be hugely rewarding. The long straights as well can be hard on the tyres and brakes, that can lead to mistakes into the chicanes and slower speed corners can lead to crashes.
The midfield remains competitive, and we saw in Barcelona the cut-off for both for Q1 and Q2 were very tight and if again we do get showers it could be again a session that being on track given the factors already mentioned as well as the tightness of the pack. Given its likely that the top four will likely be its realistically settled.
2019 vs 2022 Race Data
P1 Fastest |
P2 Fastest |
P3 Fastest |
Q1 Fastest |
Q2 Fastest |
Q3 Fastest |
Race Time |
Fastest Lap |
|
2022 |
01:33.836 | 01:32.219 | 01:23.746 | 01:33.219 | 01:23.746 | 01:21.299 | 01:36:21.757 | 01:15.749 |
Diff |
+21.069 | +20.042 | +12.903 | +20.119 | +12.736 | +11.059 | +07:14.470 | +02.671 |
2019 |
01:12.767 | 01:12.177 | 01:10.843 | 01:11.200 | 01:11.010 | 01:10.240 | 01:29.07.804 | 01:13.078 |
2022 Lap time comparison
FP1 |
FP2 |
FP3 |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Race |
|||||||||
Team |
Fastest Time |
Gap |
Fastest Time |
Gap |
Fastest Time |
Gap |
Fastest Time |
Gap |
Fastest Time |
Gap |
Fastest Time |
Gap |
Race. Time |
Gap |
Inter |
Mercedes |
01:15.666 | +00.508 | 01:15.421 | +01.294 | 01:34.259 | +00.423 | 01:33.160 | +00.941 | 01:24.950 | +01.204 | 01:22.891 | +01.592 | 01:36:28.763 | +00:07.006 | +00:06.103 |
Red Bull |
01:15.158 | +00.000 | 01:14.127 | +00.000 | 01:34.498 | +00.662 | 01:32.219 | +00.000 | 01:23.746 | +00.000 | 01:21.299 | +00.000 | 01:36:21.757 | +00:00.000 | +00:00.00 |
Ferrari |
01:15.404 | +00.246 | 01:14.208 | +00.081 | 01:34.778 | +00.942 | 01:32.781 | +00.562 | 01:25.197 | +01.451 | 01:22.096 | +00.797 | 01:36:22.750 | +00:00.993 | +00:00.993 |
McLaren |
01:16.211 | +00.925 | 01:14.987 | +00.844 | 01:34.110 | +00.274 | 01:33.636 | +01.417 | 01:26.375 | +02.629 | N/A | 01:37:04.804 | +00:43.047 | +00:04.825 | |
Aston Martin |
01:15.822 | +00.664 | 01:14.442 | +00.315 | 01:33.891 | +00.055 | 01:34.512 | +02.293 | N/A | N/A | 01:35:59.979 | +00:38.222 | +00:08.222 | ||
Alpha Tauri |
01:16.165 | +01.007 | 01:14.879 | +00.752 | 01:33.889 | +00.053 | 01:34.492 | +02.273 | N/A | N/A | 01:37:06.940 | +00:45.183 | +00:00.290 | ||
Alpine |
01:15.531 | +00.373 | 01:14.543 | +00.416 | 01:33.836 | +00.000 | 01:32.277 | +00.058 | 01:28.848 | +01.102 | 01:21.944 | +00.645 | 01:36:45.647 | +00:23.890 | +00:08.722 |
Haas |
01:17.223 | +02.065 | 01:15.499 | +01.372 | 01:35.643 | +01.807 | 01:32.957 | +00.738 | 01:26.254 | +02.508 | 01:22.960 | +02.057 | 01:37:29.937 | +01:08.180 | +00:08.202 |
Alfa Romeo |
01:16.426 | +01.268 | 01:15.526 | +01.399 | 01:35.016 | +01.180 | 01:33.689 | +01.470 | 01:26.788 | +03.042 | N/A | 01:36:47.004 | +00:25.247 | +00:01.357 | |
Williams |
01:16.308 | +01.150 | 01:16.171 | +02.044 | 01:35.761 | +01.925 | 01:34.047 | +01.828 | 01:26.858 | +03.112 | N/A | 01:37:06.650 | +00:44.893 | +00:00.648 | |
Tyres
White Hard (C?) |
Yellow Medium (C?) |
Red Soft (C?) |
