Ever wondered what an F1 circuit would look like in the snow? Now you don’t have to! <\/p>\n
\nThe Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is an iconic track on the F1 calendar, having been in use since the 1978 season (barring a few years off here and there). <\/p>\n
\nIt was previously named the Ile Notre-Dame Circuit, with Gilles Villeneuve himself claiming the first win around the circuit in 1978, but it was renamed following Villeneuve’s death in 1982. <\/p>\n
\nTraditionally, F1 use the track around late spring\/early summer for the Canadian Grand Prix, with this year’s event taking place in June, seeing Lando Norris<\/a> crash out of the race to put a dent in his title chances.
<\/p>\n \nWhile we have seen some awful weather there over the years (I’m picturing Jenson Button<\/a>‘s stunning victory in the wet in 2011), F1 has been lucky enough to avoid the icy temperatures of the Canadian winter.
<\/p>\n The history of the Wall of Champions<\/p>\n \nOf course, the most infamous part of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is the Wall of Champions, which admittedly would be pretty hard to navigate in the Montreal snow!
<\/p>\n \nIt all started at the 1999 Canadian GP, which must have felt like a cruel joke for some of the sport’s biggest names. It witnessed a domino effect of misfortune, with four drivers succumbing to the unforgiving wall that was later nicknamed the Wall of Champions.
<\/p>\n \nThe first to fall victim wasn’t technically an F1 world champion, but motorsport royalty nonetheless – Ricardo Zonta, the reigning FIA GT champion at the time.
<\/p>\n \nShortly after, Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, lost control of his Jordan on lap 14 and made contact with the wall. The drama continued when pole-sitter Michael Schumacher misjudged the corner on lap 29 and slammed into the wall, dislodging both right-hand tyres from his Ferrari<\/a>.
<\/p>\n \nHis frustration was palpable, famously responding with a cutting remark to a reporter who asked about the incident: “Have you a bit of respect for humans?”
<\/p>\n \nThe hat-trick of F1 champion misfortune was completed by 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, son of Gilles, by understeering and clattering into the wall just five laps later.
<\/p>\n \nIronically, the advertising slogan adorning the corner’s exit at the time, “Bienvenue au Quebec” (Welcome to Quebec), offered a rather unwelcoming greeting for these drivers.
<\/p>\n \nThe race, which set a record for the most safety car deployments at the time, was eventually won by McLaren<\/a>‘s Mika Hakkinen, who eventually claimed the world title by a narrow margin of just two points over Ferrari’s Eddie Irvine.
<\/p>\n \nThe Wall of Champions has continued to live up to its name in the years since. While it has claimed its fair share of non-champions – like Carlos Sainz<\/a> in 2016 and most recently Kevin Magnussen<\/a> in 2019 – it has also seen the likes of Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel<\/a> fall victim to its unforgiving nature in 2005 and 2011 respectively.
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