Things to know before the Canadian Grand Prix
Interrupting the European leg of the 2018 Championship season with a trip to Montreal, Canada, Formula One arrives to a spectacular venue, an artificially built island.
With the Canadian Grand Prix, Formula One approaches its one-third point of the season. Just 14 days went by after the Monaco Grand Prix which is also a street circuit, the Montreal semi-street track presents teams and drivers with a very different set of challenges than the tight confines and low speeds of the Principality’s twisting streets.
Long straight, high kerbs, heavy braking zones characterize the 4.361km long track. Drivers have to circulate 70 times during the race to cover the race distance of 305.270km. Pit lane speed limit is 80kph in all sessions across the weekend.
The lap record of 1:13.622 was set by Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello in the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix.
This will be the 49th Canadian Grand Prix and the 39th to be held in Montreal. The race has been held at two other venues: Mosport in 1967, ’69, from ’71-’74 and ‘76-’77, and Mont-Tremblant in 1968 and 1970.
Michael Schumacher holds the record for most Canadian Grand Prix wins, with seven. Current championship leader Lewis Hamilton is the second most successful driver in history with his tally of six triumphs.
Regarding pole positions, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton share on the record, both claimed the pole six times.
Since the current circuit configuration came into use in 2002 the race has been won from pole position eight times from 15 events, with three occurring in the last three years. Räikkonen, in 2005, and Jenson Button, in 2011, hold the record for wins from furthest back on the grid on this configuration. Both won from P7 on the grid.
There are be three DRS zones. A new zone has been added, with a detection point 15m after Turn 5 and an activation point 95m after Turn 7. The previous zones remains unchanged. They share a detection point 110m before Turn 9, with activation points 155m before Turn 12 and 70m after Turn 14.
Interesting factsCanada was named through a misunderstanding. When Jaques Cartier, a French explorer, came to the new world, he met with local Natives who invited them to their 'kanata' (the word for ‘village’). The party mistakenly thought the name of the country was "Kanata" or Canada.
Canada has twice been invaded by the USA, first in 1775 and again in 1812.
Canada spans 9 984 670 sq km and comprises 6 time zones. This country is home to the longest street in the world. Yonge Street in Ontario starts at Lake Ontario, and runs north through Ontario to the Minnesota border, a distance of almost 2,000 km. Another record is that Canada has the world's longest coastline at 202,080 km.
Toronto’s Rogers Centre, formerly known as the SkyDome, is home to the largest Sony big screen in the world, measuring 10 m x 33.6 m.
Canada holds the record for the most gold medals ever won at the Winter Olympics, taking 14 Golds at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Canada is home to approximately 55,000 different species of insects.
Montreal is home to many beautiful churches and is often called The City of Saints or City of a Hundred Bell Towers.
Ontario is believed to be home to the world's smallest jail, which measures only 24.3 sq metres.
The Hotel de Glace in Quebec is built every year using 400 tons of ice and 12 000 tons of snow. Every summer it melts away, only to be rebuilt the following winter.
Canada’s only desert in British Columbia is only 15 miles long and is the only desert in the world with a long boardwalk for visitors to walk on.
Famous Canadians include Pamela Anderson, Leonard Cohen, Avril Lavigne, Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey.
