In Montreal everything is ready for a Canadian Grand Prix full of news. For the first time the Gilles Villeneuve circuit will host the sprint format, particularly appreciated by promoters, who join Stefano Domenicali in defining it as an added value. The facility on Notre-Dame Island has also undergone several expansion and modernization works, necessary to meet the requirements to which Monza must also comply.
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The first sprint
The third sprint weekend of the season will take place in Canada, the very first for the North American country. The organizers strongly believe in the format, as confirmed by Jean-Philippe Paradis, CEO of Bell GPCanada: “Fans in Montreal want to see the best drivers in the world. What happens is that some free practice sessions are removed and turned into two great moments of competition, which are the qualifying for the sprint race and the sprint itself. Many have said it would be nice to see all this in Montreal. In fact, it creates great excitement in our city. Personally, I think it’s great to see a competition rather than people testing their cars. We believe it is an added value for our race.”
Jean-Philippe Paradis thus aligns himself with Domenicali’s statements, who has repeatedly emphasized how the sprint is an added value for promoters, who push to host the alternative format: “I agree with Stefano [Domenicali]. It’s something I would recommend to all other organizers to do, because it creates value for the weekend, as well as a sort of Super Saturday. Now Saturday is a really exciting day, because in addition to the qualifying for the normal race there is also the sprint.”
While on one hand the organizers will be able to leverage the sprint weekend, on the other they will have to compete for the spotlight with the Indianapolis 500. However, according to Sandrine Garneau, COO Brand and Strategies of Bell GP Canada, this will not be a problem: “Obviously the clash with Indianapolis was something we analyzed when the calendar was first published. We especially feared that media coverage might suffer, but to date I am happy to say that in fact there will be more journalists than in recent years”.
Montreal gets a makeover
Another novelty of the 2026 event is the infrastructure, with the organizers investing heavily in their modernization to meet Formula 1 standards. “For us it was clear that the level of hospitality and facilities in general around the world was becoming increasingly competitive and modern”, explains Garneau. “Looking at ours, we had entirely temporary structures, except for the pit building, and we had to acknowledge that we needed to reach that level.”
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“The first thing you saw last year were the motorhomes in the paddock. They had been purchased by the promoter mainly for use in Formula 1. There was also the issue of capacity. We had many companies wanting to be part of the Canadian Grand Prix and we were not able to meet all the requests. Last year we doubled the Podium Suite and this year we enlarged it.” It should also be noted the setup of a new platform on the beach, where several concerts are planned during the various evenings. All this has led to an increase in the circuit’s capacity, suggesting a new attendance record.
The new Formula 1 standards
The promoters already have further interventions planned for the coming years, meeting the requests made by Formula 1. Sandrine Garneau explains: “Formula 1 put a lot of pressure on us to continue to be one of the best events. I also want to emphasize, however, that Formula 1 has been a great help in guiding us to close that gap and return to being a flagship event.” Jean-Philippe Paradis echoes this: “I would say that Formula 1 has become a premium sport with premium events. Our hospitality was not at that level.” In these cases, comparison with Monza becomes inevitable. In recent years some modernizations have begun to be seen at the Temple of Speed, but the road is still long before catching up with the other World Championship events, as Canada is committed to doing.
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