Canadian Grand Prix: 10 facts that you probably don't know

After the quite unexpected Spanish Grand Prix, the teams went to the French Riviera to take part in what is almost entirely the most iconic of Formula 1 races: the Monaco Grand Prix. The race was filled with drama and debris.

The teams now head to North America to take part in the Canadian Grand Prix held at Montreal. Following are a few facts and figures about the event:

1. Canada hosted its first F1 race in 1967 at Mosport Park. Jack Brabham won the race.

2. Due to the split in languages in Canada – English and French – the event was alternated between two sites: the Ontario-based Mosport Park and Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. The latter of the tracks was deemed too dangerous following which the event was temporarily moved only to Mosport before it completed its move permanently to its present location at Montreal in 1978.

3. Gilles Villeneuve, a French-speaking Canadian, won the inaugural race at the Circuit de Notre Dame, Montreal. Following his death in the qualifying of the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, the track was renamed in his honour, making it the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve.

4. 1982 continued to bleed bad blood as the Canadian Prix saw the death of Riccardo Paletti, an Italian driver, who crashed into the stalled Ferrari of Didier Pironi on the start line. This event was just a month after Villeneuve’s passing.

5. In recent times, Michael Schumacher has been the most common face on the top step of podium winning the race seven times within the span of ten years: 1994-2004. In 2001, Schumacher finished behind his brother Ralf Schumacher who won the race making the result the first ever sibling 1-2 in the history of the sport.

6. In 2005, the Canadian Grand Prix was the third-most watched sporting event in the world with 51 million viewers, just behind the Super Bowl and the UEFA Champions League.

7. The track is known to be regularly interrupted with the crossing of groundhogs. In 2007, Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson was en route to his first-ever points finish before he hit a groundhog at high speeds thus damaging his front wing. He eventually finished eleventh. Young Lewis Hamilton recorded his first ever win at Formula 1 that Sunday.

8. In 2009, the event was dropped from the sport’s calendar, meaning for the first time in over fifty years, there was there no Formula 1 Grand Prix in North America. After lengthy negotiations between Bernie Ecclestone and the organisers of the event, it was back on the 2010 calendar.

9. The circuit is home to the ‘Wall of Champions’. The last turn of the track has been victim to crashes to champions of the sport. The like include Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Sebastian Vettel and many more.

Torrential rains delayed the start of the Canadian Grand Prix.

10. The 2011 Canadian Grand Prix was the longest ever Formula 1 event after rain delays and race events. Jenson Button eventually won the the race by beating Sebastian Vettel.