F1 is going big in America but its northern neighbour has been at the party for a long time 🥳 Here’s how the CanadianGP has found success even before the stateside boom ⬇️
In fact, this year marks the 45th anniversary of the first race in Montreal, famously also the maiden victory of local hero Gilles Villeneuve.legend has been a near-constant presence on the schedule ever since, apart from glitches for financial reasons in 1987 and 2009, and during the COVID-hit years of 2020 and 2021.
The driving force behind the Montreal race is Francois Dumontier, the president and CEO of the promoting organisation Octane Racing Group. "Because I'm from Montreal and Quebec, I was more of a hockey fan. Of course, I knew of Gilles. I was not following racing, but I became passionate working in it.""When I started I was the operation director," he says."I was really on the ground helping to put in grandstands, and things like that.
With former promoter Legault now out of the picture, it was Dumontier that put together the deal to put the race back on the calendar in 2010. He helped to foster a package of financial support from the federal, state and city governments that made the event a realistic business proposition. "I would say the federal government, the province and Tourism Montreal, are roughly 30% each. And then the city, they're not giving as much money, but they are giving services, electricity on-site service, things like that."
It's easy to forget that Montreal is a temporary venue, returned to normal public park use after the race, and as such there is a lot of expense associated with building things up each year. "I think that the teams and the Paddock Club are now set. It's part of the five-year plan, what can we do now? How can we improve the fan experience on site? Whether it's the food, or the access to the grandstands. It's all part of our reflection every year."
And he will have to continue to improve, as F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and Liberty boss Greg Maffei have made it clear that the sport's"historic" races, a category into which Canada falls, will have to keep up with the new ones. It's inevitable that Montreal will always be compared with Austin, Miami and now Las Vegas.
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