Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Canadian Grand Prix
Is the Canadian Grand Prix Good for Racing?
Yes. Montreal is a run of straights joined by chicanes and a hairpin, and F1 counted 75 overtakes there in 2025. The final chicane is the main place to pass, with Turn 1 as a second chance.
George Russell’s pole lap, shown on the right, spent 60% of its distance at full throttle and needed only six braking zones.
In 2026 Kimi Antonelli first took the lead from Russell into the final chicane on lap 22, and Lewis Hamilton grabbed second around the outside of Turn 1 on lap 62.
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Strategy Factors
2026 Canadian Grand Prix
What to Look Out for at the Canadian Grand Prix
Montreal rarely runs clean. It had a Safety Car in five of its six races before 2026, and with a green-flag stop costing 18.25s, a cheap stop under yellow can flip the order.
That’s what decided 2026. Russell’s car failed on lap 30, the Virtual Safety Car came out, and most of the field pitted under it.
Weather is the other wild card. Rain fell just before the 2026 start, and the cars that gambled on intermediates had to pit within two laps. An extra formation lap for Arvid Lindblad’s stalled car also cut the race to 68 laps.
F1 preview giving the 18.25s pit loss, the Safety Car record, the 187m run to Turn 1 and 2025 overtakes.
Race report covering the wet start, the extra formation lap, Russell's lap 30 retirement and Hamilton's Turn 1 pass.
2026 Canadian Grand Prix Results and Pay
Select A Row To Explore Details
22 Drivers
| # | Details | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Kimi Antonelli Mercedes | Mercedes | 6 | $3.4m | $15.4m | $18m | 25 | |
Kimi Antonelli Salary
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| 2 |  Lewis Hamilton Ferrari | Ferrari | 3 | $60m | $70m | $580m | 18 | |
Lewis Hamilton Salary
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| 3 |  Max Verstappen Red Bull | Red Bull | 2 | $70m | $90m | $200m | 15 | |
Max Verstappen Salary
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| 4 |  Charles LeclercFerrari | Ferrari | 4 | $34m | $46m | $70m | 12 | |
Charles Leclerc Salary
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| 5 |  Isack HadjarRed Bull | Red Bull | 0 | $7.5m | $9.5m | $1m | 10 | |
Isack Hadjar Salary
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| 6 |  Franco Colapinto Alpine | Alpine | 0 | $500k-1m | $1.5m-2m | $5m | 8 | |
Franco Colapinto Salary
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| 7 |  Liam Lawson Racing Bulls | Racing Bulls | 0 | $1m | $2m | $2m | 6 | |
Liam Lawson Salary
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| 8 |  Pierre GaslyAlpine | Alpine | 0 | $18.2m | $29.6m | $33m | 4 | |
Pierre Gasly Salary
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| 9 |  Carlos Sainz Williams | Williams | 0 | $13m | $16m | $50m | 2 | |
Carlos Sainz Salary
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| 10 |  Oliver Bearman Haas | Haas | 0 | $1m | $1.5m | $1m | 1 | |
Oliver Bearman Salary
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| 11 |  Oscar Piastri McLaren | McLaren | 5 | $13m | $40.5m | $50m | 0 | |
Oscar Piastri Salary
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| 12 |  Nico Hülkenberg Audi | Audi | 0 | $7m | $9.9m | $10m | 0 | |
Nico Hülkenberg Salary
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| 13 |  Gabriel BortoletoAudi | Audi | 0 | $2m | $3m | $3m | 0 | |
Gabriel Bortoleto Salary
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| 14 |  Esteban OconHaas | Haas | 0 | $7m | $9m | $21m | 0 | |
Esteban Ocon Salary
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| 15 |  Lance Stroll Aston Martin | Aston Martin | 0 | $12m | $13.5m | $50m | 0 | |
Lance Stroll Salary
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| 16 |  Valtteri Bottas Cadillac | Cadillac | 0 | $5m | $7m | $40m | 0 | |
Valtteri Bottas Salary
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| 17 |  Sergio PérezCadillac | Cadillac | 0 | $10m | $11.5m | $50m | 0 | |
Sergio Pérez Salary
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| 18 |  Lando NorrisMcLaren | McLaren | 7 | $30m | $69.5m | $80m | 0 | |
Lando Norris Salary
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| 19 |  George RussellMercedes | Mercedes | 8 | $34m | $50m | $40m | 0 | |
George Russell Salary
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| 20 |  Fernando AlonsoAston Martin | Aston Martin | 0 | $20m | $22.5m | $260m | 0 | |
Fernando Alonso Salary
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| 21 |  Alex AlbonWilliams | Williams | 0 | $12m | $15m | $15m | 0 | |
Alex Albon Salary
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| 22 |  Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls | Racing Bulls | 1 | $500k-1m | $1m-1.5m | $1m | 0 | |
Arvid Lindblad Salary
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Select A Row To Explore Details
11 Teams
| # | Details | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FerrariHamilton, Leclerc | Hamilton, Leclerc | 7 | $7.1bn | $670m | $94m | 30 | |
Ferrari F1 Team Value
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| 2 | MercedesAntonelli, Russell | Antonelli, Russell | 14 | $6.4bn | $839m | $37.4m | 25 | |
Mercedes F1 Team Value
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| 3 | Red BullVerstappen, Hadjar | Verstappen, Hadjar | 2 | $4.9bn | $618m | $77.5m | 25 | |
Red Bull F1 Team Value
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| 4 | AlpineColapinto, Gasly | Colapinto, Gasly | 0 | $2.6bn | $316m | $18.7m-19.2m | 12 | |
Alpine F1 Team Value
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| 5 | Racing BullsLawson, Lindblad | Lawson, Lindblad | 1 | $2.4bn | $318m | $1.5m-2m | 6 | |
Racing Bulls F1 Team Value
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| 6 | WilliamsSainz, Albon | Sainz, Albon | 0 | $2.7bn | $323m | $25m | 2 | |
Williams F1 Team Value
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| 7 | HaasBearman, Ocon | Bearman, Ocon | 0 | $1.9bn | $150m | $8m | 1 | |
Haas F1 Team Value
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| 8 | McLarenPiastri, Norris | Piastri, Norris | 12 | $5.2bn | $647m | $43m | 0 | |
McLaren F1 Team Value
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| 9 | AudiHülkenberg, Bortoleto | Hülkenberg, Bortoleto | 0 | $2.6bn | $240m | $9m | 0 | |
Audi F1 Team Value
| ||||||||
| 10 | Aston MartinStroll, Alonso | Stroll, Alonso | 0 | $3.5bn | $353m | $32m | 0 | |
Aston Martin F1 Team Value
| ||||||||
| 11 | CadillacBottas, Pérez | Bottas, Pérez | 0 | $1.6bn | Not Yet Filed | $15m | 0 | |
Cadillac F1 Team Value
| ||||||||
Canadian Grand Prix Tire Strategy
One pit window settled the 2026 race. Antonelli, Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc all started on softs, stopped under the lap 30 Virtual Safety Car and ran the last 38 laps on mediums, finishing first to fourth in that order.
Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly started on mediums and switched to hards a lap earlier, while Isack Hadjar stopped three times and still took fifth.
The C3, C4 and C5 were on offer, on a surface relaid in 2024 that grips up a lot over a weekend. Graining was still a problem in 2025.
Stint lengths and compounds for the top 10 finishers of the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix.
Race page covering the tire choices at the start and the pit stops under the lap 30 Virtual Safety Car.
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Sector by Sector and Corner by Corner
Speeds, gears and braking points below come from George Russell‘s 1:12.578 pole lap in 2026 qualifying. He spent 60% of the lap at full throttle and 14.4 seconds on the brakes across six braking zones, and peaked at 332 km/h on the Casino Straight. The slowest point was 60 km/h at the Turn 10 hairpin.
FastF1 timing data for George Russell's 1:12.578 pole lap, used for the speeds, gears, braking points and sector figures
Deceleration at the hairpin in 2026 against 2025, and the final chicane as the hardest stop with its g-force and pedal load
The 2024 lowering of the track under the Concorde Bridge and the rebuilt Turn 8 run-off
History of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
The Canadian Grand Prix moved to this man-made island in the Saint Lawrence River in 1978. Earlier Canadian races at Mosport belong to a different circuit’s story.
History timeline covering the 1978 opening, the 1982 renaming and the layout changes through 2002.
Supports the 1988 pit move, the 1999 Wall of Champions crashes and the four-hour 2011 race.
Confirms George Russell won the first Montreal Sprint in 2026 and Kimi Antonelli's fastest lap.
How Much Does Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Cost?
The Canadian Grand Prix pays an estimated $32m a year in hosting fees, and the race is backed by public money. The federal and Quebec governments, the City of Montréal and Tourisme Montréal committed C$187m ($132m) for 2015-2024 and have pledged C$117m ($82.7m) for 2032-2035. The cost of building the circuit in 1978 isn't known, but its new pit and paddock building cost C$59m ($41.7m) in 2019.
How Much Did Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Cost to Build?
No reliable figure for the original 1978 build has been published. The track is a park circuit in Parc Jean-Drapeau, run by the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau, with permanent pit buildings and temporary grandstands. The biggest known spend came in 2018-2019, when the 1988 pit building was torn down and replaced in about 10 months. It was budgeted at C$48m ($33.9m) in 2017, and the 2019 opening release lists C$41m ($29.0m) from the City of Montréal and C$18m ($12.7m) from Quebec. The garages more than doubled in depth and lodge seats rose from 1,800 to 5,000. The full 2024 resurface has no published cost.
How Much Is the Canadian Grand Prix Hosting Fee?
F1 has never published it. RacingNews365 in 2023 and Speedcafe in 2024 both estimated $32m a year. Promoter Octane Racing Group pays it with public backing. The 2014 deal set C$187m ($132m) for 2015-2024, starting at C$17m ($12.0m) in 2015 and rising 2% a year. The 2020 and 2021 races lost to Covid were added back as 2030 and 2031, with C$25m ($17.7m) and C$26m ($18.4m) pledged for them. The June 2025 extension to 2035 came with C$117m ($82.7m) more, roughly C$29m ($20.5m) a year.
The $32m fee estimate for Montreal in 2023
The C$187m public commitment for 2015-2024, starting at C$17m and indexed at 2% a year
The 2030 and 2031 races added in place of 2020 and 2021, with C$25m and C$26m committed
The extension to 2035 and the C$117m pledged for 2032-2035
The contract end date of 2035
C$41m from the City of Montréal and C$18m from Quebec, the 10-month build and the rise to 5,000 lodge seats
The C$48m budget set in 2017 for the new pit and paddock building
Garages more than doubled in depth in the new building
The 2024 resurface for the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau, with no cost disclosed
How Much Are Canadian Grand Prix Tickets?
Three days of general admission cost CAD410 ($290) in 2026, and grandstand seats started at CAD440 ($311) in Grandstand 47 at the start of the Casino Straight. The covered Platine grandstand from the grid to the Senna Curve topped the regular range at CAD1,580 ($1,117), and hospitality started at CAD8,785 ($6,212) for the Champions Club Blanc. That makes Montreal the 13th cheapest of the 23 races in our ticket price table.
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Canadian Grand Prix Questions
The Wall of Champions is the concrete wall on the exit of the final chicane at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. It got the name in 1999, when three world champions crashed into it in the same race, and it still catches any car that runs a little wide onto the pit straight.
Montreal’s lap is a set of straights broken by chicanes and a hairpin, so lap time comes from braking late and getting back on the power early. Walls sit close at Turns 4 and 9 and at the final chicane, so a missed braking point is punished by concrete rather than runoff.
Montreal hosted its first F1 Sprint in 2026. George Russell won the 23-lap race in 28:50.951, Kimi Antonelli set the fastest lap at 1:14.380, and the Sprint returns for the 2027 Canadian Grand Prix on May 21-23 as one of ten Sprint weekends that season.
The 2026 Canadian Grand Prix was shortened because Arvid Lindblad’s car stalled on the grid with a clutch problem. That forced an extra formation lap, and the race was cut from its scheduled 70 laps to 68, which brought the distance down from 305.270km to 296.548km.
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is named after the Canadian driver who won the first Grand Prix held there, in 1978 for Ferrari. The track took his name in 1982, after his death earlier that year, and the island circuit has hosted the Canadian Grand Prix under it ever since.
The Canadian Grand Prix pays an estimated $32m a year to host the race, according to RacingNews365 and Speedcafe, although F1 has never confirmed it. The race is backed by public money, with C$117m ($82.7m) pledged by governments and Tourisme Montréal for 2032-2035, and the contract runs until 2035.
No reliable figure for building Circuit Gilles Villeneuve before its first Grand Prix in 1978 has been published. The biggest recent investment was the pit and paddock building that opened in 2019, funded with C$41m ($29.0m) from the City of Montréal and C$18m ($12.7m) from the Quebec government.