#F1 @Pirelli #CanadianGP 2023 Preview. #CanadianGrandPrix
Formula 1 AWS Grand Prix Du Canada 2022 Race Start. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Image credit to Dan Mullan/Getty Images. 2023 Canadian GP Preview, F1 Canadian GP Preview, Formula 1 Canada Preview.
2023 Canadian GP Preview – After Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant 40th-career victory at the Spanish GP to extend his Driver’s Championship lead, round nine of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal this weekend for the Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix Du Canada 2023. This will be the 58th running of the Canadian Grand Prix and the fifty-second time as a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship since the sport began in 1950. Also, it is the 42nd time that the Canadian Grand Prix has been held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
2023 Canadian GP Preview – A look at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a motor racing circuit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and has been held there since 1978 when it was formerly known as the Circuit Ile Notre Dame.
The circuit is located in a part of the city of Montreal known as Parc-Jean Drapeau. The park is named after the mayor of Montreal who was responsible for the organization of Expo 67.
The circuit lies on Ile Notre Dame, a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River most of which was originally built up for the Expo 67. Also, the neighbouring island Ile Sainte-Helene had been artificially enlarged for the fairgrounds and a prominent remnant of the fair, the Biosphere can be regularly seen during television coverage of racing events. Almost half of the track from the hairpin turn until after the pit area runs alongside the Bassin Olimpique, a huge rectangular basin which was created for the rowing and canoeing events of Montreal’s 1976 Summer Olympics. Barriers run close to the circuit and many experienced drivers have been caught out by them.
A particularly famous part of the circuit is the wall on the outside of the exit of the final chicane before the start/finish straight. During the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix the wall, which bears the name Bienvenue au Quebec (“Welcome to Quebec”) giving it the nickname “Mur du Quebec” (Quebec Wall), ended the race of three Formula One World Champions, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve along with FIA GT champion Ricardo Zonta. Since then the wall has been nicknamed “The Wall of Champions. In recent years 2009 world champion Jenson Button (2005) and 4-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel (2011) have also fallen victim to the wall.
Before the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve became Canada’s permanent home of Grand Prix racing, the Canadian Grand Prix was first staged Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario in 1961 as a sports car event before it alternated between Mosport and Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Quebec after Formula One took over the event. After 1971, safety concerns led to the Grand Prix moving permanently to Mosport. In 1978, after similar safety concerns with Mosport, the Canadian Grand Prix moved to its current home on Ile Notre Dame Circuit (which was renamed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve since 1982 weeks after Canadian Gilles Villeneuve tragically lost his life at Zolder in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix) in Montreal.
Canadian native Gilles Villeneuve was the first winner at the circuit for Scuderia Ferrari in 1978 and is the only Canadian driver to win a Canadian Grand Prix.
The circuit runs in a clockwise direction and is 4.361km (2.71 mi) in length with 14 corners.
Race distance is 305.270km (189.694 mi) with 70 laps in total.
Valtteri Bottas holds the fastest lap record from the 2019 event with a 1:13.078 set in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team F1 W10 EQ Power+ racer.
Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most Canadian Grand Prix victories with seven each to their respective names.
Scuderia Ferrari is the most successful Constructor at the Canadian Grand Prix with 13 victories to their name.
2023 Canadian GP Preview – Onboard Lap of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at last year’s event, set by Max Verstappen in his Oracle Red Bull Racing – RBPT-Honda RB18. The two-time world champion posted a 1:21.299. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKhw7dDnwco
2023 Canadian GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2021-20: Not Held. 2019: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2017: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.
2023 Canadian GP Preview – Tyres
Sole tyre supplier Pirelli will be bringing with them to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the C3 white-branded Hard compounds, the C4 yellow-marked Mediums and the C5 red side-walled Soft rubber along with the green-coloured Intermediates and blue-branded Full Wets in case of rain.
Drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two sets of the harder compounds as with all events.
2023 Canadian GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be three DRS Zones in Canada. The first detection point will be 15 metres after turn five and the activation point 95 metres after turn seven. The other two detection zones are shared 110 metres before turn nine. The second DRS activation point is 155 metres before turn 12 and the third 70 metres after turn 14.
2023 Canadian GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Verstappen storms to dominant Spanish GP victory
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant victory at the Spanish GP by over 24 seconds to Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton who came home second as George Russell completed the top three in the F1 W14 entry.
Verstappen lead from start-to-finish and increased his World Driver’s Championship lead to 57 points over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez and made it the 40th victory of his career.
When the 66-lap Spanish GP began, pole-sitter Verstappen made a solid getaway but with Sainz tucked right behind the Red Bull in the slip-stream, and move to the outside, but Verstappen covered the inside and held first place.
Behind them Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton made contact with McLaren’s Lando Norris as the latter suffered a damaged front wing.
At the end of the opening lap, Verstappen held a one second gap to Sainz with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll third, Mercedes’ Hamilton fourth and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon completed the top five.
Norris came in for a new front wing and put on a set of medium tyres as a result of the contact with the Mercedes.
On lap six, Verstappen is building a lead over Sainz despite starting on the mediums, with a 2.649 second gap to the Ferrari, Stroll holding third, Hamilton fourth and Ocon rounding out the top five.
On the eighth tour, Hamilton passes Stroll for third down the main straight into the opening corner.
At the beginning of lap 10, Verstappen increased his gap to 4.7 seconds over Sainz with Hamilton third, Stroll fourth and Ocon completing the top five.
Meanwhile the other Red Bull RB19 entry of Sergio Perez, who started in 11th, on his recovery drive made his way up to eighth and behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in the battle for seventh.
In-front of them, Mercedes’ George Russell made his way by Ocon on the main straight to take fifth place off the Alpine.
On lap 15, Verstappen held a comfortable 7.444 lead to Sainz. Behind the Dutchman, in the battle for second place, Hamilton got within DRS range to the Spaniard, Russell in the second Silver Arrow was fourth and Alonso completed the top five.
Sainz pitted from third on lap 16 and emerged in ninth on a fresh set of mediums behind Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc who began the Grand Prix from the pit-lane and started on the harder compounds.
On lap 19, Sainz overtook Alpine’s Pierre Gasly to take sixth place on the main straight.
On the 20th tour, Verstappen increased his lead to a 8.504 second gap over Hamilton with Russell third, Perez fourth and Sainz fifth meanwhile Alonso pitted for a set of softs and came out in tenth behind Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu.
On lap 24, the top four are still yet to pit, with Verstappen leading the way, 11.058 seconds in-front of Hamilton, with Russell third, Perez fourth and Sainz rounding out the top five. Both Red Bulls on the mediums whilst the Silver Arrows are on the softs.
On the 25th tour, Hamilton pitted from second for a set of mediums and emerged behind Ferrari’s Sainz in fifth place.
A tour later, Russell also stopped from second place for a set of mediums and came out in sixth behind Aston Martin’s Stroll.
On lap 27, Verstappen pitted from the lead for a fresh set of harder compounds and emerged comfortably ahead of team-mate Perez.
On the 28th lap, Perez followed his team-mate pitting for a set of hards and came out in eighth, meanwhile Hamilton made his way by Ferrari’s Sainz on the inside into turn one to take second place and behind them Stroll overtook Ocon for fifth place.
On lap 30, Verstappen held a 12.647 lead over Hamilton with Sainz third, Russell fourth, Stroll fifth and Ocon completing the top six.
At the midway point Verstappen increased his gap to 13.706 ahead of Hamilton with Sainz holding third, Russell fourth, Stroll fifth and Ocon sixth as behind them Perez passed AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda for seventh.
On the 34th tour, Perez also made late lunge on the Alpine on the pit straight with DRS assistance to move ahead of Ocon into sixth place.
On the 35th lap, Russell with DRS assistance, got into the slipstream of Sainz on the main straight, taking the inside and passing the Ferrari into turn one to snatch third place.
On lap 40, Verstappen held a 15.634 second lead over Hamilton, with Russell third, Sainz fourth and Perez rounding out the top five.
On the 42nd tour, Sainz stopped for a set of hards and emerged behind Alonso in sixth place meanwhile Leclerc followed suit from eighth and emerged in 14th behind Gasly.
With 20 laps remaining Alonso pitted from sixth on a set of hards and emerged in tenth behind Zhou, meanwhile, Russell also stopped for a set of softs and came out in fourth behind Perez and well clear of fifth-placed Sainz.
On lap 51, Hamilton pitted for a scrub set of softs with Perez doing likewise behind also for a fresh set of the C3 red side-walled rubber and came out in fifth behind Sainz
On the 53rd lap, Verstappen stopped for a set of the C3 softs and comfortably 16.682 seconds in-front of second-placed Hamilton whilst his Red Bull team-mate overtook Sainz with DRS assistance on the main-straight on the inside of the Ferrari into turn one to take fourth place.
With ten tours remaining, Verstappen was 16.590 seconds clear of Hamilton, with Russell third and Perez fourth and chasing the Mercedes for the final podium place and Sainz completed the top five runners.
On lap 59, race leader Verstappen was given a black and white flag for exceeding track limits at turn 10 whilst his team-mate Perez has brought down the gap to Russell to 5.664 seconds in the battle for third place.
Verstappen crossed the line by 24.090 seconds to claim the Spanish GP victory with Hamilton taking second and Russell rounding out the top three.
Perez had to settle for fourth and ahead of Sainz who was fifth and the Aston Martin duo of Stroll and Alonso who followed in sixth and seventh respectively.
Alpine F1 Team’s Ocon and Gasly ended the Grand Prix in eighth and tenth as Alfa Romeo’s Zhou split the pairing in ninth.
Ferrari’s Leclerc recovered from his pit-lane start following a dismal qualifying to finish the race outside the top ten in 11th place and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda who took 12th and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who came home 13th.
AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries placed 14th in the classification and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg who was 15th and Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who finished 16th.
McLaren’s Norris after the highs of qualifying, ended the Grand Prix in a low-17th after his opening lap tangle with Hamilton and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who took 18th and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant who brought up the rear.
2023 Canadian GP Preview – The Situation
Formula One returns to Montreal this weekend for the Canadian Grand Prix as reigning world champion Max Verstappen looks to equal the legendary three-time world champion Ayrton Senna’s tally of 41 victories.
A win for either Verstappen or team-mate Sergio Perez will mean that it would also be Red Bull’s 100th victory in F1, which could be a landmark weekend for the Milton Keynes based-squad.
Mercedes, Aston Martin and Ferrari will be pushing to spoil Red Bull’s dominant party and Canada has at times thrown some amazing moments.
Back in 2019, Sebastian Vettel was controversially hit with a five-second time penalty for re-joining the track unsafely when cutting the second chicane, giving the victory to Lewis Hamilton.
Daniel Ricciardo also scored his maiden win in the 2014 event and 2011 was one to never forget, when Jenson Button’s solid performance saw him clinch victory on the final tour in an epic Grand Prix.
The Wall of Champions has not claimed any victims in recent campaigns, but the 1999 race will always be remembered for world champions Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve whacking the wall on the exit of the final corner.
Verstappen returns to Montreal sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 170 points and a 53-point lead over Red Bull team-mate Perez who is second on 117 points while Fernando Alonso is third on 99 points and a further 71 points behind the Dutchman.
Oracle Red Bull Racing comes to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on top of the World Constructor’s Championship with 287 points and a 135-point advantage over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team who are second on 152 points whilst Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team are a further 153 points behind the Milton Keynes based-outfits in third on 134 points.
Click here for the 2023 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings.
The Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix Du Canada 2023 weekend kicks off Friday June 16 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday June 16 and the 70 lap Race Sunday June 18.
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