Formula One Vault

PRIXVIEW – Canadian Grand Prix

Round nine sees F1 return to North America and the city of Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. Built on Notre Dame Island in the middle of the St Lawrence seaway the circuit Gilles Villeneuve can be described in the same way as Albert Park a hybrid between a permeant and street circuit in the Parc Jean-Drapeau. Its build around the rowing lake for the 1976 Summer Olympic and the venues for Expo 67.

The circuit is a challenge for drivers as it’s very similar to Albert Park, as we see close racing around this circuit which is a medium speed high downforce circuit which is technical corners and one of the shortest laps of the season. This is a circuit where overtaking is possible but get it wrong you will crash into the wall.

Perhaps the best and worst places to overtake, is the Turn Twelve-Thirteen Chicane or The Wall of Champions a tricky low-speed chicane following a very long straight which adds to the high brake demands on the cars. As of 2023, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve all in 1999 gave the wall its name.

Since then, the wall has claimed 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. It’s also a circuit similar to Monaco where you need to build into the weekend,

While you can overtake strategy still remains key as anything can happen with safety cars, red flags and the weather. 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.

These factors all raise the chances of drivers making mistakes and going off there isn’t as much tarmac runoff as modern circuits which can lead to virtual and real safety cars as the barriers are not far away.

But the first Grand Prix was held 90 minutes away at Mont-Tremblant, was much like Mosport Park in that it was a spectacular circuit which had significant elevation change and was very challenging. The first championship race was won by Jack Brabham with his New Zealander teammate Denny Hulme completing a Brabham 1–2.

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 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.

The race moved to what was then called the Circuit Île Notre-Dame in 1978, hosting every year baring four occasions the latest interrupted by the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Gilles Villeneuve who this circuit is named after won the first race the circuit being named after him four years later following his death in qualifying at Zolder.

But the 1982 race was also marked by the death of 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.

The late 1980s and early 1990s, like many races were dominated by 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 to take 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.

Michael Schumacher won the first of seven wins in Montreal in 1994, the following season he encountered electrical issues and his main rival Damon Hill also retired with hydraulic failure gifting Jean Alesi his only win of his career.

Between 1997 and 2004 (except 1999 and 2001) saw a romp of 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.

Lewis Hamilton has always gone well in Montreal, 2007 saw him take his first pole and win, first of wins seven in Montreal, after fending off teammate Fernando Alonso Hamilton built a lead early on. His first win is seen as one of the best of his career, making him at the time the then-youngest pole sitter, race winner and championship leader.

Robert Kubica who had a huge crash into the wall on the approach to L‘Epingle in 2007 would take his only race win following year after 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.

2010 was a more quite race, Hamilton winning ahead of teammate Jenson Button a rare race in Montreal where the only retirements came from mechanical failures for HRT, Virgin and Caterham.

However 2011, was not quite, the longest and slowest Grand Prix in the history of the sport in biblical conditions lasting for over four hours including a two-hour red flag. The first part of 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.

With the race going into the last lap, Button had worked his way from last to second but this race had yet another twist, Sebastian Vettel getting caught out on a puddle sliding wide allowing the McLaren to overtake and win.

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 failure halfway through the race, which ended behind the safety car following a collision 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

Following the pandemic hiatus, both races have been won by Max Verstappen, his 2022 victory being despite heavy pressure from Carlos Sainz following a restart the race became a sprint to the flag. 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.

Race & Circuit Guide

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.

Event timetable

What happened in 2023?

Max Verstappen took pole with a 25.958, going three-tenths faster than Nico Hulkenberg in mixed conditions. Q3 was cut short after Oscar Piastri crashed his McLaren at Turn Seven, luckily Hulkenberg got his fastest time in before the red flag. Also benefitting was Fernando Alonso, both Mercedes. Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll were given penalties for impeding.

Verstappen took a dominant eight-second win ahead of Alonso to equal Ayrton Senna’s forty-one wins. Verstappen controlled the race once again as he pulled away early on, but instead, the Aston Martin driver battled with Lewis Hamilton throughout the race and managed to fend off the Mercedes in the closing stages.

But Hamilton and Alonso had a very close battle in the fight for second nearly colliding in the pit lane, before the safety car. On the restart Alonso remained ahead before Hamilton h Hamilton switched to the medium tyres at his second pit stop while the Spaniard stuck with the hards they had used for their second stint, the seven-time champion could do nothing about his old rival.

That was despite Alonso being told to take it easy because of a rear brake issue for much of the second half of the race, Hamilton closed up to within a second and a half, of his long-term rival in the closing laps but was unable to snatch second place.

What to watch for?

The big question is can Red Bull find a solution for the kerb riding issues they had at Imola and Monaco because that is critical to a good lap time. I think we can no longer expect the dominance we have seen in recent years and this is another street circuit-permeant hybrid though it’s one where you can overtake. But that does mean that the circuit is lined with grass and gravel but without massive runoff, we know that the fact you can overtake but you need to be careful as mistakes can mix things up.

Max Verstappen in recent years after being beaten bounces back stronger, though we can’t say that Red Bull won’t have problems given the similarity to Miami and Monaco where they struggled to unlock the performance on street circuits. This circuit is similar to Melbourne where they were also beaten by Ferrari, I think its safe to conclude they aren’t as dominant as they have been. But if they resolve those issues there is no reason why they can’t be beaten.

The battle between Ferrari and McLaren is an interesting one as there appears to be very little between them, with who is ahead very much has changed race by race. All the teams need to be on it like Monaco but especially the two fighting behind Red Bull, as this is always an interesting race where all the teams need to be honest.

If the weather stays dry we will again see rapid track evolution throughout the weekend, but things can get interesting if we do get rain. That means if we get rain midway through the weekend, race or qualifying that could cause a few headaches for teams, we need to remember this could be a interesting race where we can see drama. The circuit I think has it all for racing.

Lewis Hamilton has always gone well here, but can he turn the tide of his mixed season where he has struggled against teammate George Russell. I think his driving style demonstrates what you need in Montreal, he has won roughly one in three races in Montreal. Though it looks difficult he would take his eighth win here.

The off track thing to watch I think is what looks growing instability once again at Alpine, they need to resolve both the driver friction and management changing regularly.

2023 vs 2022 Race Data

2023 Lap time comparison

Tyres