Montreal, QC – After a 2024 race where many things went wrong, the Canadian Grand Prix has made several changes to help quell rumours that the sport started to lose its patience with Montreal.
While the race continues to be popular with fans and teams, both the governing Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and Formula One raised concerns about the lack of space, parking and team hospitality areas at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as an irritant.
Although neither body said so out loud, many in the paddock suggested that the race’s days were numbered if it didn’t work to solve some long-standing complaints about the close quarters and sub-par services, such as parking.
The lack of workspace for the teams seems to be sorted now, with the debut of two-storey hospitality centres this year, which likely quadruples the available space for the F1 outfits to host guests, prepare team meals, and run engineering meetings.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said Stuart Morrison, the Canadian head of F1 communications for the Haas team. “It’s a massive step up in comparison to what teams have had in Montreal before — it’s huge to add this level of investment available to the teams and it brings the Montreal race up to par with most of the other flyaways. Obviously, from an operational standpoint, it just makes everybody’s life a lot easier.”
The first floor of the new centres serves as the hospitality area, with the drivers’ private spaces, engineering rooms, and marketing communications offices upstairs. There’s also a second-storey balcony overlooking the paddock.
“We’ve got enough room here to have some lounge access and a little bit outside where people kind of hang out,” said Morrison. “Obviously, the big thing now is if it rains — which often does here — there’s plenty of shelter. In the past, it used to be that most of our hospitality space was outdoors, so when it rained, everybody had to come inside and it could be packed.”
Last year, misfortune seemed to be the order of the day for race organizers, with heavy rain flooding several television broadcast booths, police closing the exit from the track for a concert after qualifying, and the Montreal fire department shutting down outdoor patios due to canopies being a few centimetres too big.
To respond to complaints about parking, the organizers also moved the driver and team spots from the grass next to the Olympic rowing basin to a place behind the Turn 1 grandstands. It not only offers more room but also less chance of becoming a mud pool in a downpour.
When it comes to the traffic issues, the organizers embarked on a year-long process to review access points to the island to improve flow and ease the time getting into and out of the track. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve rests on a purpose-made island in the St. Lawrence, with three bridges for access.
This year, the drivers and teams will use the Victoria Bridge at the west end of the island, which will help to ensure they don’t get stuck in traffic when they come and go.
“I’m a fan,” said Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson about the changes. “It’s so much better. Last year, this [team hospitality] was a single-storey and I think now it’s sort of the same setup we have in Austin [TX, at Circuit of the Americas].”
With some feeling the race might be in doubt due to the lack of facilities and ongoing traffic issues, Morrison believes the changes go a long way to help his home grand prix continue to be a jewel on the F1 schedule.
“They’ve obviously taken a long, hard look, and they realized that they need to improve a lot of things, just operationally more than anything, and it’s no small endeavour either — so hats off to them,” he said. “Obviously, they’re limited here geographically, but the thing is, people still love coming to the race, the teams still enjoy coming to the race, and the drivers enjoy coming to the race. So, the more things that are put in place that just help our professional setup definitely help. And the race is sold out and it’s got a lot of people to still come to it and leave and the easier it is for everybody, I think the better it is.”
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