Round 8 - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Summary
After a year's absence the F1 circus returns to Montreal and the circuit on the man-made Île Notre-Dame in the St. Lawrence River.
Montreal first hosted the Canadian Grand Prix in 1978, taking over from Mosport. That first race was won by local hero Gilles Villeneuve in his iconic Ferrari 312T3 amidst emotional scenes. Following Gilles' untimely death in 1982 the circuit was renamed in his honour, and the message "Salut Gilles" appears along the start/finish line today. This event has often brought dramatic and unpredictable races; extremely low winter temperatures and heavy snowfall have caused issues with the track surface on a recurring basis, while the track layout places particular demands on brake wear.
The nature of the temporary circuit run on public roads brings another challenge in the form of the concrete walls that line most of its length. The 1999 race was particularly memorable owing to the magnetic attraction of the "Wall of Champions" leading on to the start/finish straight, where Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta (yes, he is a champion!) all fell victim. Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso have also seen their races end in a crunching collision with the barriers here in previous years.
Although at one time Montreal was just one of many fast circuits on the calendar, the revisions to Hockenheim, Silverstone and Osterreichring, among others, have left it with Monza as one of the two fastest of all. It remained comparatively unchanged following Ayrton Senna's death in 1994 and the essential character of the fast sweeps under the trees, the multiple tight, technical chicanes, and the long blast out of the bottom hairpin is intact. Teams will adopt lower downforce settings for best top speeds along the straights, leaving drivers to manhandle their reluctant machinery across the kerbs for the best lap time.
The overall finishing rate at Montreal is the lowest of all this year's circuits.
The likelihood of a driver-related retirement is higher than average.
Mechnical failures in the Canadian GP are also very much more common than at most current tracks.
Finally, the circuit ranks as about average for first-lap retirements in the past five years.
The Last Five Years
[td]Year[/td][td]Starters[/td][td]Finishers[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Lap 1 retirements[/td][td]Most places gained[/td]
Circuit Ranking (of all 18 circuits)
Finishing Rate
...
16th Catalunya 68%
17th Melbourne 68%
18th Montreal 63%
Mechanical Failures
...
3rd Sakhir 17%
4th Montreal 17%
5th Hungaroring 16%
...
Driver-related Retirements
1st Melbourne 24%
2nd Montreal 20%
3rd Monte Carlo 15%
...
First lap Retirements
...
9th Valencia 2.5%
10th Montreal 2.4%
11th Istanbul 1.9%
...
Michael Schumacher has an exceptional record, even by his own standards, at Montreal, with seven wins and five second places to his credit. The last two Canadian Grands Prix have seen drivers taking debut victories, with Lewis Hamilton in 2007 and Robert Kubica in 2008. Kubica had suffered a dreadful crash the previous year approaching the hairpin, and his enforced absence from the subsequent event allowed Sebastian Vettel to make his F1 debut. Others have fared less well; neither Felipe Massa nor Mark Webber have recorded a podium finish, while Nico Rosberg travels looking for his first Canadian GP points. Owing to the removal of the 2009 event, both Toro Rosso drivers will make their North American debuts this weekend.
The last race in Montreal saw the finest day for the Sauber (and BMW) team, with Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finishing first and second. This result gives them the third best overall record of current teams, ahead of Williams and Renault, who have each scored a single victory since 2000 (Ralf Schumacher in 2001 and Fernando Alonso in 2006). Ferrari are leading the way overall, but fans should note that all four of their wins came with Michael Schumacher at the wheel, and the most recent was as long ago as 2004.
Current Drivers' Records at Montreal
[td]Driver[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]
Chassis Records at Montreal (since 2000)
[td]Chassis[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]Results for BMW Sauber include Sauber
Results for Renault include Benetton
Results for Red Bull include Jaguar
Results for Mercedes GP include BAR, Honda and Brawn
Results for Force India include Jordan, Midland and Spyker
Results for Toro Rosso include Minardi
Engine Records at Montreal (since 2000)
[td]Engine[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]Results for Ferrari include Petronas and Acer
Results for Cosworth include Ford
All ranking figures are expressed as a % of total starts.
"Retirements-Acc" are retirements where the reason has been listed as Collision, Accident or Spun Off.
Summary
After a year's absence the F1 circus returns to Montreal and the circuit on the man-made Île Notre-Dame in the St. Lawrence River.
Montreal first hosted the Canadian Grand Prix in 1978, taking over from Mosport. That first race was won by local hero Gilles Villeneuve in his iconic Ferrari 312T3 amidst emotional scenes. Following Gilles' untimely death in 1982 the circuit was renamed in his honour, and the message "Salut Gilles" appears along the start/finish line today. This event has often brought dramatic and unpredictable races; extremely low winter temperatures and heavy snowfall have caused issues with the track surface on a recurring basis, while the track layout places particular demands on brake wear.
The nature of the temporary circuit run on public roads brings another challenge in the form of the concrete walls that line most of its length. The 1999 race was particularly memorable owing to the magnetic attraction of the "Wall of Champions" leading on to the start/finish straight, where Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta (yes, he is a champion!) all fell victim. Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso have also seen their races end in a crunching collision with the barriers here in previous years.
Although at one time Montreal was just one of many fast circuits on the calendar, the revisions to Hockenheim, Silverstone and Osterreichring, among others, have left it with Monza as one of the two fastest of all. It remained comparatively unchanged following Ayrton Senna's death in 1994 and the essential character of the fast sweeps under the trees, the multiple tight, technical chicanes, and the long blast out of the bottom hairpin is intact. Teams will adopt lower downforce settings for best top speeds along the straights, leaving drivers to manhandle their reluctant machinery across the kerbs for the best lap time.
The overall finishing rate at Montreal is the lowest of all this year's circuits.
The likelihood of a driver-related retirement is higher than average.
Mechnical failures in the Canadian GP are also very much more common than at most current tracks.
Finally, the circuit ranks as about average for first-lap retirements in the past five years.
The Last Five Years
| 2005 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 17 - Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) |
| 2006 | 22 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 14 - David Coulthard (Red Bull) |
| 2007 | 22 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 18 - Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) |
| 2008 | 20 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 11 - Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) |
| 2009 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Overall | 84 | 53 | 14 | 17 | 2 |
Circuit Ranking (of all 18 circuits)
Finishing Rate
...
16th Catalunya 68%
17th Melbourne 68%
18th Montreal 63%
Mechanical Failures
...
3rd Sakhir 17%
4th Montreal 17%
5th Hungaroring 16%
...
Driver-related Retirements
1st Melbourne 24%
2nd Montreal 20%
3rd Monte Carlo 15%
...
First lap Retirements
...
9th Valencia 2.5%
10th Montreal 2.4%
11th Istanbul 1.9%
...
Michael Schumacher has an exceptional record, even by his own standards, at Montreal, with seven wins and five second places to his credit. The last two Canadian Grands Prix have seen drivers taking debut victories, with Lewis Hamilton in 2007 and Robert Kubica in 2008. Kubica had suffered a dreadful crash the previous year approaching the hairpin, and his enforced absence from the subsequent event allowed Sebastian Vettel to make his F1 debut. Others have fared less well; neither Felipe Massa nor Mark Webber have recorded a podium finish, while Nico Rosberg travels looking for his first Canadian GP points. Owing to the removal of the 2009 event, both Toro Rosso drivers will make their North American debuts this weekend.
The last race in Montreal saw the finest day for the Sauber (and BMW) team, with Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finishing first and second. This result gives them the third best overall record of current teams, ahead of Williams and Renault, who have each scored a single victory since 2000 (Ralf Schumacher in 2001 and Fernando Alonso in 2006). Ferrari are leading the way overall, but fans should note that all four of their wins came with Michael Schumacher at the wheel, and the most recent was as long ago as 2004.
Current Drivers' Records at Montreal
| Michael Schumacher | 15 | 13 | 1st (7) | 106 | 1 | 1 | 2.53 |
| Rubens Barrichello | 16 | 10 | 2nd (3) | 38 | 5 | 1 | 8.25 |
| Fernando Alonso | 7 | 3 | 1st (1) | 17 | 2 | 2 | 5.86 |
| Felipe Massa | 6 | 4 | 4th (1) | 13 | 0 | 2 | 10.17 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 2 | 1 | 1st (1) | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Robert Kubica | 2 | 1 | 1st (1) | 10 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Jarno Trulli | 12 | 5 | 6th (4) | 8 | 4 | 4 | 9.33 |
| Timo Glock | 2 | 2 | 4th (1) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 13.5 |
| Jenson Button | 9 | 5 | 3rd (1) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 12.67 |
| Mark Webber | 7 | 6 | 5th (1) | 6 | 0 | 1 | 12.43 |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 2 | 2 | 4th (1) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 14.5 |
| Pedro de la Rosa | 4 | 1 | 6th (1) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 14.75 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 1 | 1 | 8th (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Nico Rosberg | 3 | 2 | 10th (2) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi | 2 | 1 | 13th (1) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13.5 |
| Adrian Sutil | 2 | 0 | RET | 0 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| Jaime Alguersuari | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Sebastien Buemi | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Karun Chandhok | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Lucas di Grassi | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Vitaly Petrov | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Bruno Senna | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Chassis Records at Montreal (since 2000)
| Ferrari | 18 | 15 | 1st (4) | 96 | 0 | 3 | 5.06 |
| McLaren | 18 | 13 | 1st (2) | 54 | 2 | 3 | 6.17 |
| BMW Sauber | 18 | 11 | 1st (1) | 41 | 3 | 4 | 10.28 |
| Williams | 18 | 11 | 1st (1) | 34 | 4 | 4 | 8.17 |
| Renault | 18 | 8 | 1st (1) | 30 | 6 | 5 | 9.17 |
| Red Bull | 18 | 12 | 3rd (1) | 13 | 5 | 2 | 13 |
| Mercedes GP | 18 | 8 | 3rd (1) | 8 | 9 | 2 | 10.17 |
| Force India | 18 | 9 | 5th (1) | 6 | 5 | 5 | 14.5 |
| Toro Rosso | 18 | 12 | 8th (1) | 1 | 4 | 3 | 18.28 |
| Hispania | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Lotus | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Virgin | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Results for Renault include Benetton
Results for Red Bull include Jaguar
Results for Mercedes GP include BAR, Honda and Brawn
Results for Force India include Jordan, Midland and Spyker
Results for Toro Rosso include Minardi
Engine Records at Montreal (since 2000)
| Ferrari | 42 | 28 | 1st (4) | 113 | 4 | 10 | 10.45 |
| Mercedes-Benz | 18 | 13 | 1st (2) | 54 | 2 | 3 | 6.17 |
| Renault | 20 | 9 | 1st (1) | 32 | 7 | 5 | 9.2 |
| Cosworth | 28 | 16 | 6th (1) | 9 | 10 | 3 | 14.89 |
Results for Cosworth include Ford
All ranking figures are expressed as a % of total starts.
"Retirements-Acc" are retirements where the reason has been listed as Collision, Accident or Spun Off.
