01The Latest From Canada
02Island Life
Formula 1 always likes to talk about its European season, pointing to the traditional switch from fly-aways to a summer sequence that lasts from Imola or Barcelona in April all the way to Monza in September. However, while there’s a traditional romance to that notion, the truth is, that neatly linear stripe of ointment is home to a maple-coated trip away – Montréal’s Circuit Gille Villeneuve and the Canadian Grand Prix.
The city embraces its Grand Prix like no other, and with the Crescent Street area of downtown turned into an F1-themed party zone for the whole weekend, the Canadian Grand Prix stands as one of the most entertaining weekends of the year.
Our first podium here came in 2008, courtesy of David Coulthard who made the final trip to the rostrum of his career in Canada. Sebastian Vettel grabbed out first win here in 2013 and Daniel Ricciardo took the first win of his career here with us the following year. Those were a prelude to Max’s achievements here, however. The Dutchman has won three editions of this race.
Daniel Ricciardo And Sebastian Vettel On Track In Canada© Getty Images
Will he be able to add a fourth this year? Will Yuki grab his first Montréal points this weekend. Let’s take a look to see what we’re facing…
03Challenges and Key Factors
Barriers – The semi-permanent nature of Montréal means that, like Melbourne, the track is relatively narrow, the run-off areas are small, and the barriers are very close. Get it wrong and punishment is both swift and harsh. It’s about balancing risk and reward, particularly in qualifying.
Braking – Defined by short straights ending in hard braking chicanes, Montréal’s circuit is one of the season’s toughest on brakes. Teams often bring larger brake ducts to Montréal to aid with cooling but with braking events often exceeding 5G around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve’s 14 corners, keeping the anchors alive is tricky. On a track where confidence is all about stability under braking, inconsistent or fading stopping power can be a real problem.
Track evolution – Rarely used for racing and with a smooth surface, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve always sees significant track evolution across the weekend. Making the right calls in qualifying on when the track is at its best will be important.
Sun Shining Over Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve© Getty Images
Sticky situation – After racing on the hardest compounds on Barcelona’s abrasive surface, in Montréal we’re back to the softest end of Pirelli’s range. The C6 appears as the Soft for the third time this season after use in Imola and Monaco, while the C4 and C5 will be available as the Medium and Hard compounds. The allocation is likely to be a head-scratcher for a couple of interlinked reasons: firstly, it’s a step softer than last year which poses a puzzle on durability, and secondly, we have limited data on tyre behaviour from last year, due to conditions on a newly resurfaced track.
With changeable weather throughout the weekend last year, there was very little running on dry tyres, while the thrilling race was mostly wet. When drivers did get a longer chance to run on slicks (for periods during FP1 and on Saturday), they all reported a lot of tyre graining, particularly on the Medium. How the C4-C6 sets will perform this year will be interesting.
Strategy – The combination of the new surface, spotty data from last year’s allocation and softer compounds this time out, means strategy could be a movable feast this year. Last year, a two-stop race, using Mediums and two sets of Hard tyres seemed the most sensible choice, though a riskier one-stop, Medium-Hard race might also have been possible. Dial back to previous races and in 2023 Max won in dry conditions with a two-stop Medium-Hard-Medium race, while in 2022 the Dutchman’s first Montréal win was achieved with a Medium-Hard strategy. With a lot of unknowns, it will be interesting to see how the Team decides to tackle the Grand Prix weekend.
Weather – Another important element to consider is the weather. And it’s not just regular threats of rain; changeable conditions can mean big swings in track temperature. As an example, in 2023 the track temperature in qualifying was just 17 degrees Celsius; 24 hours later it was 40 degrees. It’s forecast to be dry, cloudy and around 20˚C this year, but historically the weather forecast has been known to chop and change all the time in Montréal.
Another Rainy Day In Canada© Getty Images
04Circuit Gilles Villeneuve: Track Layout & Key Features
As we’ve already said, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a circuit defined by a trio of short, sharp straights – each of which is a DRS zone – punctuated by hard braking zones into chicanes and low-speed corners. It means that Montréal has plenty of decent overtaking spots.
The key opportunities lie in Turn 1 where cars decelerate to 130 km/h and drop to fourth gear for a left-hander that then loops through Turn 2 before a short blast to the flick through Turns 3 and 4. After the fast run to the next braking zone of Turns 6 and 7, and the first DRS zone on the straight to Turns 8 and 9, the next big overtaking chance comes at the Turn 10 hairpin. If you don’t get the move done into the 60km/h second gear corner, it’s followed by the second DRS zone where you can either use the open wing to make the pass on the straight or get the move done into Turn 13 and the final chicane. That’s followed by the infamous ‘Wall of Champions’ and then into the third DRS zone, across the line and off on another lap.
05Max's Thoughts Ahead of Canada
The track is very unqiue...there are plenty of opportunities for overtaking
Max Verstappen"Barcelona was disappointing for us and, although we gave it everything, it was not the way we would have liked the race to turn out. We have had a bit of a break after the triple header: I have been to Hangar-7 to celebrate its reopening with the Team and we are looking forward to Canada. The track there is very unique, has some old school kerbs and there are plenty of opportunities for overtaking. The car set up will be important and it is always more of a challenge with the big breaking zones. Last year’s race was an exciting one, we were able to bring home the win and hopefully we can again bring a positive performance this week. The weather conditions are looking a bit better than last year so we will see what happens."
06Yuki On His Upcoming 100th Race
I would love to mark my 100th race with a result to match the occasion...Yuki Tsunoda "I am looking forward to this week in Canada, it’s one of my favourite races on the calendar. I love Montreal and the overall vibe of the city, the food and the shopping and it’s such a fun place to hang out in. It’s also my 100th race in Formula One this weekend, which feels a bit crazy. It feels like I just started but also feels like this has always been my life. Every one of those 100 races has felt special and I feel lucky to be in the sport and I would love to mark my 100th race with a result to match the occasion. I had two solid days of testing in Barcelona following the race and have been on the sim in Milton Keynes too, so we have been working hard together and I have a lot more miles under my belt in a Red Bull Racing car now. After Spain, we must execute a better Qualifying and we have put the work in to do that. The weather is Canada can throw up some surprises but it looks like it could be pretty dry and consistent for once, which should help us achieve our aims."
