All Info You Need to See Before the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix Starts

The 2025 Formula 1 season arrives at Canada for the 10th race of the year.

The Canadian Grand Prix is always interesting, with a challenging track that most drivers enjoy. McLaren is coming off a dominant 1-2 in Spain with Oscar Piastri leading Lando Norris, just as they are in the championship standings.

BARCELONA, SPAIN – JUNE 01: Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Scuderia Ferrari SF-25 and Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21.

Norris is 10 points behind Piastri, but McLaren has no rival in terms of Constructors’ Championship points, posting 362 points against second-placed Ferrari (165).

On their side, Max Verstappen and Red Bull desperately need a big result that would put to rest the noise of the Spanish GP and the Dutchman’s penalty. Of course, he’ll need to be careful, as any on-track incident could give him penalty points on his license and ultimately leave him out of a Grand Prix.

Verstappen is now 49 points behind Piastri in the World Drivers’ Championship, and any hopes of a fifth consecutive title require a big comeback from Red Bull, the dominant force in F1 since 2021.

Ferrari (Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton) and Mercedes (George Russell and Kimi Antonelli) are also under some pressure to find consistency throughout the season. For Ferrari, the team needs to solve the balance of the car and make it perform well throughout the weekend, which has been rare.

Mercedes, though, is struggling with reliability, which has cost them points in the last three weekends.

2025 Canadian GP Facts & Figures

Sunday’s race will be the 60th Canadian Grand Prix in history and the 54th race held as part of the Formula 1 World Championship.

The first Canadian Grand Prix was held in 1961 and was a sports car race. The first Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix happened in 1967, with Jack Brabham winning at Mosport Park with his Brabham car.

From 1967 to 1970, the event alternated between Mosport Park and Mont-Tremblant, two fast circuits with elevation changes and many challenges for drivers and cars. Safety concerns with Mont-Tremblant left the track off the calendar, and the Canadian GP continued at Mosport Park until 1977.

The event moved to Montreal in 1978 and the then Île Notre-Dame Circuit (today’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve). Legendary Canadian racer Gilles Villeneuve won the first event at Montreal, as he put his Ferrari in first place, ahead of Jody Scheckter’s Wolf and his teammate Carlos Reutemann.

1979, Italy. Gilles Villeneuve in the Ferrari 312T4

The win was Villeneuve’s first of his career, in his first full season in the sport.

Williams’ Alan Jones won the race in 1980 to seal his only World Drivers’ Championship and the first for the team. In that race, Renault’s Jean-Pierre Jabouille crashed heavily and suffered leg injuries that ultimately ended his Formula 1 competitive career.

The 1982 event saw Nelson Piquet win for Brabham, but the race was marked by Riccardo Paletti’s death in only his second F1 race. The 23-year-old Italian crashed against the stalled Ferrari of Didier Pironi at the start of the race and died shortly after.

In recent history, some of the most memorable Canadian Grands Prix include Jean Alesi taking his first and only Grand Prix win in 1995 while driving a Ferrari with the number 27 on top of it, bringing memories of Gilles Villeneuve to the Italian crowd.

Monaco GP winner Olivier Panis suffered a career-altering crash at the 1997 event, which left him with leg injuries and caused him to miss seven races. That was the seventh event of the 1997 campaign, and Panis was third in the WDC with his Prost car.

In the 2001 event, Ralf Schumacher won for Williams with his brother Michael sitting second, which was the first time in F1 history that siblings finished 1-2 in a race. Both repeated the feat in Canada in 2003, with Michael winning the event.

Lewis Hamilton took the first of his record 105 Formula 1 victories in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, as well as the first of his record-setting 104 Pole Positions. That event is also remembered for BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica’s heavy crash heading to the third-sector hairpin, which caused Kubica to miss the following US Grand Prix, despite many expecting bad news after such a horrific accident.

In the 2008 Canadian GP, Kubica returned to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and won the race, which was his only Grand Prix win in F1.

The Canadian round wasn’t part of the 2009 calendar, but it returned to Formula 1 in 2010 after a new 5-year deal was signed between organizers and the racing series’ management.

Hamilton won again in 2010 before his then McLaren teammate Jenson Button won a crazy race in 2011 (the longest in F1 history) as the rain created dramatic scenarios throughout the race, including red flags.

Hamilton gave McLaren its third consecutive win at Montreal in 2012 before Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo gave Red Bull consecutive wins in 2013 and 2014 (Ricciardo’s win was his first in Formula 1).

Hamilton dominated from 2015 to 2017 before Vettel won for Ferrari in 2018 (the Scuderia’s first win at the track since 2004). The 2019 race was controversial, as Vettel was given a five-second penalty for re-joining the track unsafely after a mistake in Turn 4.

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel – 2019 Canadian F1 GP

The British driver was following closely and was going to take advantage of the German’s mistake, but Vettel’s unsafe return to the track forced Hamilton to back off to avoid a collision, prompting the penalty for the four-time champion.

Vettel and Ferrari fans were completely against the penalty, and there’s still an exaggerated outrage from media members about it.

The race wasn’t part of the calendar in 2020 and 2021 due to issues coming from the pandemic, but it returned in 2022 with Max Verstappen winning the event for Red Bull, and repeating the feat in 2023 and 2024 in mixed weather conditions.

Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton lead the all-time table in terms of wins in Canada with seven apiece. The German won once with Benetton (1994) and six times with Ferrari (1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004). On his side, Hamilton won three times for McLaren (2007, 2010, 2012) and four times with Mercedes (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019).

Among teams, McLaren leads Ferrari 13 wins to 12, while Williams is third with seven wins in Canada.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a 4.361 km with 14 corners that is tough on brakes and has a fantastic dynamic of medium-speed ‘chicanes’, with the last one having the “Wall of Champions” on the exit, an infamous place where several World Champions have crashed through the years, and three former champions (Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, and Jacques Villeneuve) crashed in 1999.

The first F1 race held in Montreal came in 1978, with the aforementioned win of Gilles Villeneuve in a track named Île Notre-Dame Circuit. Since 1978, Montreal has hosted the Canadian GP, with 43 Grands Prix celebrated at the place since 1978.

In 1982, shortly after Villeneuve died in Belgium, the track was renamed after the Canadian legend.

The layout of the circuit has had two big changes since entering F1. The position of the start/finish line was placed shortly after the hairpin (which was Turn 19 at the time). Then, the start/finish line was moved to its current place in 1988, and the track had 17 corners after changes made to the final sector. The first part of the circuit has remained similar since the track entered Formula 1.

In 1996, an acceleration zone was added after the hairpin, making that part of the track a straight, creating some overtaking opportunities before the final chicane (Turns 13 and 14). Since then, only small changes have been made to the layout, only being shortened from 4.421 km to the current 4.361 km, after changes were made to the pit-lane exit due to safety concerns.

The lap record at the track is held by Valtteri Bottas, with a 1:13.078 min in the 2019 race.

2025 Canadian Grand Prix – Tyres

The dry tyres for the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix will be the C4 as P Zero White hard, C5 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C6 as P Zero Red soft, which is Pirelli’s softest choice.

Pirelli explained its choice with a press release: “For the third time this season, the softest trio of compounds will feature on track. That means, after appearing for the first time in Imola and again in Monaco, the C6 will be in use, alongside its closest relatives, the C5 as Medium and the C4 as Hard.

“The selection is therefore one step softer than last year, when the chosen compounds were the C3, C4 and C5.

“This weekend, when using the new C6, teams and drivers will be able to make the most of the information and data gathered at its two previous appearances. The Gilles Villeneuve Circuit is a track where the lateral forces exerted on the tyres are medium to low, while the longitudinal ones are a bit more severe, although not particularly high, because of the cars being subjected to strong deceleration followed by sharp acceleration.

“The track surface is very smooth and not very abrasive and is never used for racing apart from the Grand Prix weekend. Graining, especially during free practice on Friday, could put in an appearance, but as the track gradually rubbers-in it shouldn’t be a factor. Lap times come down really quickly, not just from one day to the next, but also during each session.

“On top of that, the unpredictable and changeable weather is a factor to consider, a wildcard that’s been known to disrupt the on-track action here, while fluctuating temperatures are a feature of the Montreal event.”

The minimum starting pressures for the tyres will be 23.5 PSI (front) and 20.5 PSI (rear).

2025 Canadian Grand Prix Weather Forecast

Friday, June 13th – FP1 & FP2

Conditions: Mostly cloudy

Max. temperature: 18°C

Chance of rain: 2%

Saturday, June 14th – FP3 & Qualifying

Conditions: Partial sunshine

Max. temperature: 21°C

Chance of rain: 1%

Sunday, June 15th – Race

Conditions: Mostly sunny and pleasant

Max. temperature: 23°C

Chance of rain: 0%

Who will be on the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix Podium?

Podium after the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 09, 2024, in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Although Piastri has received praise for his poise and his steady pace at the top, the Australian only leads his teammate, Lando Norris, by 10 points.

Things can change quickly in Formula 1, but Norris would be relieved if he only had a single-digit gap to his teammate in the standings after 10 races.

A victory for Norris with Piastri in second place at Montreal would put Norris only three points behind. Possibly igniting a big title fight between the two for the rest of the year.

Can it happen? Norris most recently won at Monaco, and Piastri returned the favor at Barcelona a week later. Montreal should be the perfect place for Norris to put up a good performance and earn his third win of the year.

The podium prediction for the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix is 1. Lando Norris, 2. Oscar Piastri, 3. Charles Leclerc.

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