Preview of the Canadian Grand Prix

After six editions of a Canadian Grand Prix organized as part of the Canadian Sports Car Championship (from 1961 to 1965) and then the Can-Am Championship, which debuted in 1966, the Canadian Grand Prix joined the Formula One World Championship calendar in 1967, in celebration of Canada’s centennial. Held on the Mosport circuit, this first Grand Prix began in the rain with the inevitable Jim Clark in pole position. However, Denny Hulme quickly took the lead in the race, while Bruce McLaren, despite a spin, claimed second place after overtaking Jack Brabham and Jim Clark in quick succession. But when the track began to dry, the McLaren-BRM lost its effectiveness, and the Kiwi driver had to yield to the assaults of Clark and then Brabham. The great Jim regained the lead when the rain returned to the circuit. However, the Lotus driver did not have to struggle against the elements for long, as his car’s engine stopped, leaving the way open for Jack Brabham to secure a victory that would allow Team Brabham to retain its constructor’s title.

After venturing onto the Mont Tremblant circuit in 1968, F1 returned to Mosport the following year for a Grand Prix won by Jacky Ickx with a comfortable lead despite a collision and a spin with Jackie Stewart’s Matra for the race lead. Canada was still searching for the driver who would proudly carry its colors in Formula One, but it was not the case in 1969 when Canadian Al Pease received the black flag on the 22nd lap for driving too slowly in a 1966 Eagle.

The 1970 edition, held on the Mont Tremblant circuit, took place without Team Lotus, which decided not to send a car to Canada right after the loss of Jochen Rindt three weeks earlier. The Ferrari drivers were favorites, but Jackie Stewart took pole position at the wheel of what turned out to be the very first true Tyrell-manufactured car. The Scot made a strong impression at the start of the race before suffering from a mechanical failure that forced him to retire. Despite his victory, Jacky Ickx, now second in the drivers’ standings, was 17 points behind the late Rindt with only two Grand Prix races remaining.

In 1971, Mark Donahue, who had won at the Mosport Park track in the Can-Am series in 1966, made a grand entry into Formula One on the same circuit, finishing on the 3rd step of the podium. This would remain his best result, achieved in his very first Grand Prix, out of 14 raced.

The following year, while the Canadian Grand Prix had been alternating since 1967 between Mosport and Mont Tremblant, Formula One cars raced for the second consecutive year on the Mosport circuit after a dispute with local authorities led to the closure of the Quebec track. Jackie Stewart won once again, without any real competition, but the Grand Prix was especially marked by the first pole position in McLaren’s history, achieved by Peter Revson who would secure his second and last Formula One victory the following year before his death in 1974.

The 1973 Canadian Grand Prix was also the occasion of a mix-up due to the introduction of the safety car: a first in the history of Formula One. Eppie Wietzes, driving this yellow Porsche 914, inadvertently positioned himself in front of Howden Ganley’s Iso-Marlboro, allowing a significant part of the field, including the eventual winner, to get back on the lead lap. Revson then had to wait 4 hours before his victory was finally officialized.

In 1974, Canada, the penultimate Grand Prix of the season, will be the stage for the first potentially decisive episode in the race for the title. Clay Regazzoni was leading the championship with 46 points, ahead of Jody Scheckter (45 points), Emerson Fittipaldi (43 points), and Niki Lauda (38 points). The latter two started on the front row ahead of Scheckter’s Tyrell, while Regazzoni had to settle for 6th place. Quickly, the four title contenders found themselves in the top four positions, in reverse order of the championship standings, offering the prospect of a finale at the United States Grand Prix with four men within 2 points, including three drivers tied at the top of the championship. But Scheckter’s brakes failed him on the 49th lap, and on the 70th of 80 laps, Niki Lauda’s Ferrari went off track. Emerson Fittipaldi thus inherited the victory and the lead in the championship, with Clay Regazzoni only one point behind.

After starting at Ferrari during his national Grand Prix in 1977 (after a one-off race with McLaren), Gilles Villeneuve would inaugurate in the most beautiful way the circuit that, a few years later, would bear his name: the brand new track of Île Notre-Dame. Yet it was the Lotus driver, Jean-Pierre Jarier, who took pole position and dominated the start of the race, with more than a thirty-second lead over his closest pursuer. The Frenchman was ahead of Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve, who took advantage of Alan Jones’s problems to reclaim his 3rd place before overtaking the South African. The Quebecer then benefited from Jarier’s retirement due to brake problems, to secure his first Formula One victory on his home turf.

The 1979 edition was set to be the scene of an incredible twist when Niki Lauda, after a few practice laps in the brand-new Brabham BT49, decided to end his career with immediate effect, to everyone’s surprise, thus forcing his employer to call upon the services of Ricardo Zunino. This event overshadowed Alan Jones’s victory, but he was to make up for it in the best possible way the following year, by winning the race and the World Championship title. After his title rival Nelson Piquet retired due to an engine problem, the Australian only needed to win the race to be assured of becoming the worthy successor to Jack Brabham. The Williams driver found himself under pressure from Didier Pironi, whom he let pass when the latter received a penalty for jumping the start. Pironi finished the race in first position under the checkered flag before the penalty was deducted from his race time, thus giving Alan Jones a sufficient lead to be crowned champion even before competing in the final race at the Glen.

In 1982, just a few weeks after the death of the local hero, and as the Montreal circuit was about to be named after the Quebecois, Formula One was once again in mourning following the tragic accident of the young Riccardo Paletti at the start, relegating Nelson Piquet’s victory to an anecdote in a very grim story.

From then on, the Canadian Grand Prix, having inherited a spring date, featured races that were naturally less decisive for the championship. Nonetheless, the Canadian circuit remained a perfectly suited playground for turbo engines, which had already made their mark in 1982 and 1983, as well as in the following years until their ban: Piquet (1984), Alboreto (1985), Mansell (1986), Senna (1988).

In 1989, once again the McLaren drivers locked out the front row ahead of Patrese’s Williams, Berger’s Ferrari, Mansell’s Ferrari, and Boutsen’s Williams in sixth place. The race was marked by a rain shower before the start, leading to chaos in the pits even before the end of the warm-up lap, which eliminated Nigel Mansell. Many drivers switched to slick tires in the early laps, while Prost was forced to retire due to a suspension failure. Patrese took the lead ahead of Boutsen, who then switched to slick tires just as the rain returned. Patrese, staying on track, strengthened his lead but couldn’t hold back the charge of Ayrton Senna, who was always in a state of grace in such conditions, before also losing second place to Thierry Boutsen. As Senna was heading toward another victory, his engine failed with three laps to go, propelling the Belgian to his first Grand Prix win, which also turned out to be the first of a long series of victories for the Williams-Renault partnership in Formula One.

The following year, victory did not elude Ayrton Senna, just as it would not elude Nigel Mansell in 1991. Unfortunately for the Brit, who had dominated the Grand Prix from start to finish, his race ended in a manner worthy of a fable by La Fontaine. Indeed, while saluting the crowd during his final lap at a reduced speed, the Lion stalled, allowing a hard-earned victory to slip away to Nelson Piquet, who thus claimed his 23rd and final career victory for Team Benetton.

In 1992, when he seemed unbeatable, the Briton missed another opportunity to win by overshooting his braking at the last chicane, finishing his race with a spin, with the victory later going to Gerhard Berger, ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jean Alesi.

The Avignonnais was to experience his moment of glory in Canada in 1995, where he achieved what remains his first and only victory in Formula One on his 31st birthday. Starting in 5th position, the Frenchman took advantage of the chaotic first laps to secure a solid second place behind a Michael Schumacher who was on a solo run. However, the German, suffering from an electronic problem, got stuck in 3rd gear and was forced to pit to change his steering wheel, saving 5th place with qualifying lap times but relinquishing the victory to Alesi and the podium to the two Jordan drivers, Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine.

The German driver will, however, establish himself as the master of Montreal, claiming 6 new victories, adding to the one achieved in 1994, only letting it slip away 3 times, in favor of Damon Hill (1996), Mika Hakkinen (1999), and Ralf Schumacher (2001). Since then, Lewis Hamilton has won there for the first time in his Formula One career and remains unbeatable in qualifying on the Montreal circuit, hoping to continue this streak and secure his 3rd victory in 4 appearances.

Pirelli: As in Monaco, Pirelli will supply teams with its softest tires for the Canadian Grand Prix, namely the soft and super soft tires, on a track known for its abrasiveness. Indeed, after the disaster of the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix held on a track with a surface that was falling apart, the organizers adopted a new compound that was more durable but also more abrasive, qualities exacerbated by the high temperatures during the 2010 edition. This edition, marked by 61 pit stops, was actually the reason for Pirelli’s desire to offer less durable tires in order to provide more spectacle. The Grand Prix had indeed been full of action with 65 overtaking maneuvers, the record on a dry track since the Mexican Grand Prix in 1990.

Some have therefore been concerned following the announcement of Pirelli’s tire choices, but with rain forecast for Saturday and Sunday, the risk of seeing the tires degrade too quickly is lower. This would also be an opportunity to discover, under racing conditions, the wet compounds offered this season by the Italian manufacturer.

Mercedes Grand Prix: According to Jenson Button, the German team could be one of the surprises of the Canadian Grand Prix: « Mercedes might be our main rivals. […] They will be very competitive here. […] With the long straights, I think Mercedes can gain 20km/h with DRS [while] most other teams are around 12km/h. That’s a huge difference here, so in qualifying, they are going to be very, very fast. »

The Canadian Grand Prix will indeed offer a double DRS zone activated at the exit of the hairpin, on the long straight before the pits, and then on the start/finish line itself.

But generally speaking, the Gilles Villeneuve circuit is a track traditionally favorable to powerful engines, and Mercedes has the best average starting grid position (6.68) there ahead of Renault (8.96), Ferrari – including Acer and Petronas – (10.82), and Cosworth (15.94).

Mercedes has maintained a record of 3 consecutive pole positions on the Île Notre Dame circuit, with two victories… but all of this on behalf of McLaren. Indeed, last year, Mercedes did no better than 10th in qualifying thanks to Rosberg, who left Canada with a 6th place finish.

Will the DRS make the difference then? It still remains to make it work, as the German team has often fallen victim to failures of their system since the start of the season.

Nico Rosberg was not among the most optimistic on the eve of this Grand Prix: « I think we will be competitive in qualifying, I’m even convinced of it, but […] our car simply destroys its tires during the race. […] In Monaco, it also went very, very badly. »

In any case, for the German, « with the combination of DRS and tires, it should offer us an exciting and action-packed weekend. »

With nearly 10 million km², Canada is the 2nd largest country in the world, behind Russia, and thus the largest country featured in the 2011 Formula One calendar.

But with its 35 million inhabitants, Canada is only the 37th most populous country in the world, and the 11th on the 2011 Formula One calendar. It also has one of the lowest population densities in the world, with 3.4 inhabitants per km² compared to France’s 110 inhabitants per km².

Francophones represent more than 20% of the population, primarily from the province of Quebec.

Canada is the world’s leading producer of hydroelectric power, contributing nearly 62% of the global annual production. The country is also the top producer of narrow-leaf blueberries and the third largest producer of diamonds by value. Canada also holds the second largest reserves of crude oil in the world, behind Saudi Arabia but ahead of Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait.

But to learn even more about Canada, we invite you to discover the mystery number. You have until the start of the Grand Prix to uncover it, by asking us questions – to which we can only respond with yes or no – and avoiding using search engines. A first clue, however: the mystery number has no connection to F1 and is not related to the creation of Radio Canada in 1952.

The mystery number of the Canadian Grand Prix is 131