For the first-time since 2019, the FIA Formula 1 World Championship is returning to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve this weekend, for the very popular Canadian Grand Prix. The driver favourite hasn’t featured on the calendar since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A lot has changed since the last race at Canada, back in 2019 Pierre Gasly was still racing for Oracle Red Bull Racing, and Sebastian Vettel was leading the charge at Scuderia Ferrari.
For the weekend, Pirelli have brought the softest range of their tyres, with the C3 being the Hard, the C4 the Medium and the C5 being the soft. The race has usually been won in the past on a one-stop strategy, however, all the data is now three-years old. The surface will likely evolve rapidly, where drivers reach almost top speeds whilst also having to brake incredibly heavily.
The weather at the Canadian GP is always unpredictable, something drivers and teams won’t be wanting this weekend with so little data.
Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, Mario Isola, is expecting the teams to be faced with a number of questions this weekend due to the multi-year absence.
“Canada will pose a number of question marks for the teams: the weather is often variable, all previous data is three years old, and we have a completely different range of tyres with new compounds and structures, on a track that is hardly ever used – which will lead to a very high degree of evolution.
“Compared to their last visit to Montreal, the drivers should find compounds that are more stable with a wider working range, enabling them to push harder throughout each stint with a much lower risk of overheating. One interesting aspect to Montreal is that it has one of the lowest pit lane time loss penalties on the calendar, meaning that a car can be in and out of the pit lane in less than 20 seconds. This could open up a few options in terms of strategy.”
