© Getty ImagesPreviously At The Canadian Grand PrixWe’ve seen firsts and lasts in Canada, celebrated a third place and bemoaned a second. It’s a race where something is always happening – usually to us.
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It’s tough on suspension, tough on engines and downright vicious on brakes. The weather can boil you or soak you, neither of which will make the slightest bit of different to the size and dedication of the crowd. It’s a fantastic place to go racing – and we’ve certainly had our moments at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Whenever the origin story of Red Bull Racing is told, the name that tends to get left out is that of David Coulthard. People will talk about the vision of Christian Horner; the support of Dietrich Mateschitz, the vast technical prowess of Adrian Newey, but rarely will the work that DC did get its due – but what he brought to a very young garage was a benchmark of understanding how to win in F1. The Scotsman arrived with 13 F1 victories and 47 other podiums to his name, and in our early years, we never really gave him a car capable of adding to that tally, but nevertheless, he took our first podium finish at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, and his 62nd and final F1 trophy at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix.
The weekend was red hot, enough to break-up the tarmac at several corners and cause all sorts of headaches for the organisers – but the race created plenty of chaos of its own. A Safety Car caused by Adrian Sutil’s burning Force India heralded a mad dash for the pitlane, which saw Lewis Hamilton ram Kimi Räikkönen at the exit, and Nico Roberg then run into the back of Hamilton. BMW-Sauber inherited a one-two and David, who’d started 13th, drove a shrewd race to come home P3 – though he had to sprint the last 100m on foot, having ran out of fuel on the in-lap. Happily he’d recovered by the time the team convened in the rooftop bar of a very nice Montreal hotel for quite the party…
Montreal Skyline© Getty Images
Spa and Silverstone get a bad rap for unknowable weather conditions – but honestly, nothing quite rivals Montreal for the sheer scope of what’s coming your way, and 2011 was as wet at they come. By the time we got to Canada, Sebastian Vettel and the mighty RB7 were bossing the 2011 Championship. He’d taken five victories from six races and finished second in the other. When he took pole position, things were looking good… but race day was chaos.
The first five laps followed the Safety Car as the drivers got used to the standing water, three laps later it was back out after a collision, and then again on lap 20 because the rain intensified. After six more laps, even Bernd Mayländer had enough and the race was suspended. The Wendy Houses went up on the grid and everyone hunkered-down to wait out the weather.
After two hours, we had another start behind the Safety Car… and then two more Safety Car periods as the remaining cars paddled through the puddles. Seb kept his cool at the front, stayed out of trouble and led every lap, including the last one… but he still lost the race to Jenson Button, who underlined his status as a wet-weather master to come through several collisions (including with his team-mate) and a drive-through penalty to somehow be running second, and just 0.9s behind Seb going onto that final lap.
He took the lead a few corners from home when Seb had a half-slide, and crossed over the line to take victory. Jubilation next door at McLaren, silence in our garage as the crew, sodden and exhausted, began a very damp pack-down wondering how that one got away. At 4 hours and 4 minutes (and 39.537s if you want to get specific) this was the longest race in F1 history… and prompted a rule change limiting race duration shortly afterwards.
2013:What'sAllTheFussAbout?
F1 teams are hardly superstitious so there’s no such thing as a bogie track…absolutely not, no way, never happens, not at all, and if anyone in our garage at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has been seen crossing their fingers, stroking a lucky rabbit’s foot or generally looking a bit… tense it’s purely a coincidence.
However, to anyone outside the garage of a superstitious disposition then perhaps the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve did appear to have it in for us. It was one of only two races on the 2013 calendar where we hadn’t previously taken a victory – with the other being the only-recently returned US Grand Prix. But Seb made a mockery of that in the RB9, taking pole position, holding his lead at the start and, bar a few minutes during the pit window, leading all the way to the flag.
Given the margin with which the team and Seb won the Championships in 2013, it’s easy to think of this as a by-the-numbers victory – but it wasn’t. The start of the 2013 was tight: Canada was round seven, we’d won two of the first six – but Canada was the first time the team had looked genuinely comfortable. The rolling maul that saw us only lose two of the final 13 rounds began here.
Past In A Flash© Getty Images
You wait years for a Canadian Grand Prix victory, and then two come along at once – though Daniel Ricciardo’s win in 2014 looked considerably less likely than Seb’s the previous year. It’s not that we were bad in 2014, more that Mercedes were very, very good. The new hybrid power units changed the game from one of aero-domination to a horsepower-dominated drag race. Mercedes won the first six races and it wasn’t even close… but then we went to Canadian Grand Prix and Daniel Ricciardo popped up to take a memorable first F1 victory.
It's remembered primarily as an inherited victory – but that ignores the work Daniel needed to do. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve’s reputation for being tough on the anchors was proved true with both of the Mercedes suffering brake problems. But Daniel didn’t inherit an easy win. He’d started sixth on a circuit he’d cordially loathed beforehand, never having had a good result in Canada, and engaged in a long duel with Checo in a Force India, finally getting past the Mexican with a brave pass into the first corner complex on lap 66 of the 70. He then caught and passed the ailing Nico Rosberg for the lead with three laps to go, before a huge crash in the closing stages between Checo and Felipe Massa meant Daniel’s final lap was a Safety Car parade.
Taking The Chequered Flag© Getty Images
The year’s following Daniel’s victory were lean, with third places for Daniel in 2017 and Max in 2018 being the only silverware to follow – though a two-year Covid hiatus didn’t help. The drought ended last year with Max taking victory from pole – albeit chased over the line by Carlos Sainz.
Max had been quickest in both sessions on Friday, and all three parts of Qualifying on a wet/damp Saturday afternoon – but his path to victory was interrupted by a succession of VSCs and Safety Cars, the last of which allowed Sainz a cheap pit-stop, bringing him out right behind Max on fresher tyres with 16 laps to run. Max confessed afterwards that he’d have much rather have been the car attacking than the one defending – but he did an excellent job of the latter, winning by less than a second.
Canadian First© Getty Images
