Who’s hot 🔥 and who’s not 👎🻠at the wall-lined Circuit Gilles Villeneuve? Motorsport Week takes a look at how teams and drivers have fared at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Wins ðŸ†
Five drivers on the 2019 grid have hoisted aloft the victor’s trophy at the Canadian Grand Prix – though one is head and shoulders above the rest.
Lewis Hamilton claimed the first of 77 (and counting) grand prix wins in Montreal in 2007 and has since taken six victories at the venue, leaving him just one shy of Michael Schumacher’s record of seven.
Hamilton took three-in-a-row for Mercedes from 2015-17, adding to his trio with McLaren (2007, 2010, 2012), but last year it was a dominant victory for Sebastian Vettel.
It was Vettel’s second win in Canada, after his 2013 triumph with Red Bull, having most famously relinquished the lead on the final lap of the crazy weather-interrupted 2011 race.
Two of Hamilton’s opponents have also taken their maiden victory – in one case sole win – in Canada.
Robert Kubica led a BMW 1-2 in 2008 for his sole Formula 1 triumph while in 2014 Daniel Ricciardo starred in a frantic race to take the first of seven wins with Red Bull.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, won the 2005 race for McLaren.
Podiums 🎉
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Hamilton’s seven Montreal podiums means he tops this pile among his contemporaries, with his only non-win top-three finish coming in 2013, his first year with Mercedes.
Vettel has taken home five trophies from the race while Valtteri Bottas has a strong record at the track, with four podiums from six attempts.
Bottas finished third in 2015/16 and has been runner-up at the event across the past two years.
Raikkonen (2006) and Ricciardo (2017) both added to their respective wins with a lowlier classification while Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez took top-three finishes in the tyre-limited 2012 encounter.
Max Verstappen placed third 12 months ago which means that eight of the current drivers have finished on the podium in Canada.
Poles 💨
Only two drivers on the current grid have taken pole position in Canada and it is little surprise that it’s Hamilton and Vettel.
The first of Hamilton’s 85 career poles (and counting) came at the track in 2007, and he has since topped qualifying in 2008, 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Vettel claimed three poles in a row with Red Bull from 2011-13 and stormed to top spot for Ferrari in 2018.
What else? ðŸ”
Lance Stroll will be the only home representative on the grid this weekend and it’s been a mixed venue for the youngster. Stroll claimed his maiden Formula 1 points courtesy of ninth in 2017 but last year was eliminated on the opening lap after clashing with Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley.
For several drivers this will be their first time competing at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. McLaren’s Lando Norris, Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon, Williams’ George Russell and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi have never sampled the venue, with the track not featuring on either the Formula 2 or Formula 3 schedule.
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