Built on an Island in the St Lawrence seaway, The Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve has hosted the Canadian Grand Prix since 1977. The circuit is named after legendary Ferrari ace Gilles Villeneuve who created history by becoming the first Canadian to win a world championship grand prix at his home track in 1978. Two years later Frank Williams won his first word championship as hard-charging Aussie Alan Jones took the spoils for Williams Grand Prix Engineering.

The circuit has also witnessed some embarrassing failures. Nigel Mansell was waving to the crowd while leading the final lap of the 1991 race when his gearbox packed up. Nelson Piquet came through to take the final victory of his illustrious career. Mansell again blew it a year later after proving too impatient when trying to pass Ayrton Senna. The 1995 race was a red-letter day for Jean Alesi who took an emotional first grand prix win after Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher faltered.

Sadly, Jacques Villeneuve has never had the best of luck at the track named after his father, with second place on his first visit back in 1996 remaining his best result.

Last year’s race saw a titanic battle between the Schumacher brothers for the spoils. The first time Michael and Ralf had fought it out in a wheel-to-wheel battle for victory, with Schuey junior coming out on top after some smart strategy from Williams.