The Grand Prix of Canada has been held on the ILE Notre-Dame in Montreal since 1978. The Formula 1 route achieved great celebrity at the latest with the creation of the “Wall of Champions” myth. But what exactly is it about?
The very big names of Formula 1 are in the winner list of the Grand Prix of Canada. Nelson Piquet has won here, Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna too. Both Schumacher brothers were able to win the Grand Prix of Canada, the later superstars Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, of course.
The route on the ILE Notre-Dame, which is located in the Sankt Lorenz stream at the gates of Montreal, is extremely famous for its famous accidents in one and the same place, which fortunately all went out lightly.
On June 13, 1999, one of the great myths of Formula 1 was justified – the “Wall of Champions”. During the race, Damon Hill in Jordan (14th round), with Michael Schumacher in Ferrari (29th round) and with Jacques Villeneuve in the bar (34th round), the Formula 1 World Champions from 1994 to 1997.
Michael Schumacher hits the lead in the “Wall of Champions”
But that’s not all. The Trio Hill, Schumacher, Villeneuve also an accident in one and the same place, namely after the harassment before the start-and-target straight. Ironically, the three hit the wall at the end of the harassment, on which the inscription “Bienvenue au quebec” (German: “Welcome to Quebec”) could be read. A historical process, because such a prominent failure list in a curve within a Formula 1 race had never existed before.
Michael Schumacher even cost his accident in the lead in the driver’s ranking, Mika Häkkinen secured his second Formula 1 World Championship at the end of the year.
Formula 1: Vettel and button crash also
After this memorable race of Montreal in 1999, the notorious wall at the beginning of the home stretch was already baptized as “Wall of Champions”.
Curiously, in the later years with Jenson Button (2005) and Sebastian Vettel (2011), two other world champions were also obvious to her and only further folk the legend of the most famous wall in the Formula 1 calendar.
After all, with Kevin Magnussen, who failed in 2019 as the last Formula 1 driver on the “Wall of Champions”, a non-world champion recently crashed.