F1
The season decamps to Montreal this weekend. Here's all you need to know about the track…
Circuit: Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve
Location: Île Notre-Dame, Montreal, Canada
Known for: Formula One, NASCAR
Type: Temporary circuit
THE FORM
One of the most popular races among drivers and team personnel, Montreal has been on the F1 calendar since 1978 and in that has been asbent from the schedule just twice – 1987 and 2009. This will be the 34th time the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve has hosted the Canadian GP. However, the race itself stretches back to 1967, with the ten GPs prior to Montreal’s debut divided between Mosport, Ontario (eight races) and Mont-Tremblant, Quebec (two races).
Montreal’s track made its bow on October 8, 1978, with a fairytale race in which local hero Gilles Villeneuve claimed his maiden F1 win at the wheel of a Ferrari 312T3. Since then the circuit has undergone a number of subtle changes, but the key characteristics remain as they were in Villeneuve’s day: it’s a track of long, fast straights, hard-braking corners and walls close enough to worry even the most precise driver.
Montreal is all about power and brakes. Four of the straights see the cars edge towards 290km/h and drivers are at full throttle for 60 per cent of the lap, which means engines are worked hard. The slowest bits on the circuit are very slow with several sub-100km/h turns. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that decelerating from 290km/h to 60km/h at the hairpin puts serious stress on the brakes.
THE LOCATION
The popularity of the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is down to one thing: it’s bang in the centre of Montreal. So close is it to downtown Montreal that the website for the Parc Jean Drapeau – the main feature of the island – even offers directions to and from the man-made island by inline skates. An easier way to get there is on the Metro's Yellow Line from Berri UQAM to Jean Drapeau.
The atmosphere in Montreal is always fantastic. Crescent Street, a city-centre road crammed with bars and restaurants, is usually pedestrianised over race weekend with concerts and F1-themed parties.
OTHER SERIES
Formula One has traditionally been the big draw, but other series have visited, including Champ Car, which raced here from 2002-2006. The F1 bill features a range of other categories as well, including the Ferrari Challenge, Formula Ford and Canadian Touring Cars. However, the only major series to now race here independent of F1 is NASCAR. The NAPA 200 is now resident on the NASCAR Nationwide Series calendar.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Canadian Grand Prix of 1973 was the first to feature the safety car. It wasn’t a massive success, though. A collision between Francois Cevert and Jody Scheckter on lap 33 meant it was called out and driver Eppie Wietzes duly took to the track in a yellow Porsche 914. But as the race was wet, a host of drivers took the opportunity to head for the pits for a change of tyres and with all the lap charts being done by hand, identifying the lead driver became impossible. Wietzes chose to stay in front of Howden Ganley in an ISO, allowing a numbers of drivers to gain a lap, including eventual winner Peter Revson. The safety car didn’t make another appearance until 1993 in Brazil.
