01/06/2012
NEWS STORY
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has been the home of the Canadian Grand Prix since 1978. It's located on Montreal's Ile Notre Dame, a man-made island in the middle of the St Lawrence River that was built using rock excavated for the Montreal metro.
The track is a semi-permanent circuit. The area around the pits is reserved exclusively for racing, while the rest of the circuit is opened up to road traffic during the summer months. That makes the asphalt very smooth and, as was the case in Monaco last time out, Pirelli will supply their Soft and Supersoft tyre compounds to the teams.
The cars top 300km/h on four occasions around the lap, braking at the end of each straight for a tight corner. That makes car set-up a delicate balance between low downforce for maximum straightline speed, while maintaining enough aerodynamic grip to ensure braking stability.
Unlike last year, there will only be a single DRS zone in the race - located on the long straight before the final chicane. Throw in the addition of KERS Hybrid, however, and dicey, high-speed overtaking should once again be prevalent on Sunday afternoon.
Both Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers have won the Canadian Grand Prix, Jenson took an unforgettable last-to-first victory last year while Lewis dominated in both 2007 and '10. The team is going for a hat-trick of wins next Sunday.
Jenson Button: "Obviously, returning to Montreal will be an extremely proud and happy moment for me. My win there last year was one of those rare occasions when everything just came right - it's still hard to believe that I was running in last place past half-distance and yet still managed to come through and take victory on the final lap. The memories of that win will always be with me.
"Montreal is always a race I look forward to anyway. The city has such a great vibe to it, the people are friendly and extremely welcoming and the fans are incredibly passionate. It's the perfect place to go racing and you can feel the excitement building literally as soon as you step off the plane.
"This weekend, though, it's going to be important to get a handle on the car in qualifying. At the last two races, Q2 hasn't gone my way, so, no matter what pace you have in the race, you're still compromised on Sunday afternoon, particularly as the pack is so tightly bunched at the moment. My aim for the weekend will be to have a stronger qualifying performance and to be able to build on that in the race."
Lewis Hamilton: "This is turning into a unique season - one where every race provides new challenges and different outcomes. Even though everything hasn't gone right for us, I'm confident that myself and the team are doing everything we can to ensure we're in the best possible position to challenge for victory each and every weekend.
"I know that the results we all want will soon come to us: I am doing everything I can to extract every tenth from the car, and I know that the guys at the track and the men and women back at MTC are doing everything they can to give me a car that's worthy of winning. We are still very much in the hunt for this world championship and I'm looking forward to bringing that fight to Montreal, which is one of my favourite races of the season.
"The contrasts between Monaco and Montreal couldn't be greater. Although they're both races that take place in the middle of a city, the circuits are very different and each has its own unique personality.
"The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a fantastic track - it's super-fast in places, which means it requires finesse and precision, but you can also end up racing wheel-to-wheel with people at 200mph too, which is an incredible sensation.
"However, you still want a car with decent low-speed traction - all those long drags are usually preceded by tight hairpins, so it's important that you can get the power down efficiently if you're to pull a good lap time together. With KERS Hybrid and DRS in the mix, it should be an exciting grand prix - although, interestingly, we're reverting to a shorter, single-DRS zone after the double-zone last year.
"On paper, I think our car will be well-suited to the combination: we showed in Spain that we're very good in high-speed corners, but we were also quick in the final sector, which is slower and more technical. Of course, it's still difficult to accurately predict the outcome, so I'll be focusing on another clean weekend where I can score more consistent world championship points."
Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal: "I think everybody in Formula 1 enjoys the Canadian Grand Prix - the city plays a wonderful host to the event, and the circuit is fast, challenging and unforgiving. Throw in the commonly unpredictable Quebecois weather and you have the perfect combination for an excitable and unpredictable weekend.
"Of course, we were the major benefactors of that very unpredictability last year, and nobody at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes can think of Montreal without remembering Jenson's magnificent victory there last year.
"But, let's not forget that Lewis, too, has many happy memories of this circuit - he won his first grand prix there in 2007, has had pole position three times and dominated the event in 2010. Canada has been a happy hunting ground for the team in recent years and we're fired up to make it a hat-trick next weekend.
"Finally, the Canadian Grand Prix will mark the 300th grand prix with our partners Mobil 1, Mercedes-Benz and Enkei. Mobil 1 kicked off their relationship with McLaren at the 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix - and, since then, we've never looked back. It's been an incredibly productive partnership - on both a technical and personal level. During that time together, we've achieved quite a lot: three drivers' championships, one constructors' championship, 72 grand prix victories, 70 pole positions, 81 fastest laps and 2525 points. Let's hope we can add to those figures in Montreal next weekend."