Five things to know ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix

We’re taking a quick break from our European summer tour to head to Montreal, a city that truly embraces Formula 1 with a circuit that often throws up some exciting racing.

F1 and Canada have a long history, having only been missing from the calendar five times across the 55 years since it first hosted a championship round.

Just 15 drivers have represented this fine nation in motorsport’s top tier, with Jacques Villeneuve their only champion, doing so with Williams Racing in 1997.

Here are five more things you should know ahead of this weekend’s race.

After a tough round in Spain, with no attrition during the race, we head to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve knowing that it is a venue that should better suit our FW45.

This is something that James Vowles touched upon in his latest episode of The Vowles Verdict.

“[It was a] tough weekend in Barcelona, but not a surprise, because of the base characteristics of our car and how competitive the field is now,” our Team Principal shared.

“Canada has a track where I think we should be more competitive.”

Similarly, the high-speed nature of this race track, matched with the proximity of the barriers, often means that it’s a race full of incidents – it averages 3.8 retirements per race across the last 10 runnings.

The weather has certainly played its part in numerous races in Montreal over the years.

In 2022, qualifying was a damp affair which nicely shuffled the pack going into Sunday’s dry race.

Of course, the very reason we visit Canada right in the middle of the European leg is so we can get the best possible conditions from their unique climate – the race was permanently moved from late September/early October to June in 1982.

Discover the full weekend forecast by checking out our Weather Watch report.

It’s hard not to enjoy our visits to Montreal. Firstly, we’ve won here seven times throughout our history – our first came through Alan Jones in 1979 with our most recent coming in 2001 thanks to Ralf Schumacher.

Secondly, we’ve given debuts to 20% of Canada’s F1 drivers. Jacques Villeneuve, son of the legendary Gilles Villeneuve, joined us in 1996, won the Drivers’ Championship in his second season and stood on the top step 11 times across his three seasons with the team.

Then in recent years, Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi have both been promoted from our Driver Academy to race in F1, competing in 102 grands prix for the team between them.

The third reason why we love Canada deserves a section all to itself!

As previously mentioned, Montrealers really get behind F1 when it rolls onto the shores of the St. Lawrence River.

Just shy of 350,000 people turned out across the three days last year, and 2023 looks set to match that once again.

It’s hardly a surprise when you consider that Montreal is a sports-mad city. The Montreal Canadiens, aka The Habs, are the most successful franchise in NHL history, having lifted the prestigious Stanley Cup a record 24 times.

Even with the circuit named after his father, 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve sadly never won a Canadian Grand Prix during his F1 career. He finished second in his 1996 rookie season but crashed out at the Wall of Champions in 1997 and 1999.

The longest Formula 1 race in history took place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2011 when safety cars and a rain delay added up to a race that took 4 hours, 4 minutes and 39.537 seconds to conclude. It was famously won by our own Brand Ambassador, Jenson Button.

The rowing and canoeing Olympic Basin that runs to the left of the final straight historically saw some unusual racing when F1 rolled into town when the teams' mechanics competed in a raft race, most recently won by ourselves in 2018.