As president of Scuderia Ferrari Club Montreal, Fabrizio Sciola could also have engine oil that crosses its veins.
Live for the week of the Grand Prix and enjoy showing Montreal and everything that the city has to offer other Ferrari lovers who come to the city for the event. But 2024 was different.
“What happened last year was definitely a fiasco,” says Sciola.
The heavy rains flooded the paddocks and the work spaces for the formula one equipment on the track. According to reports, drivers were late for important meetings due to delays caused by poorly managed construction sites. The lack of communication between the organizers of the race, the city, the police and the Montreal Transit Authority led to problems to access the track for ticket holders. Fans jumped barriers, invading the racing track. The fire department closed the closure of restaurant terraces in the middle of the dinner service for rapes of the statutes.
“It was just a complete disaster and a shame, frankly,” says Sciola.
Quebec Minister of Tourism, Caroline Proulx, agreed, saying that she was “ashamed“Of what she saw.
“It was a disaster,” says Alain Creton, president of the Peel Street merchants association.
Look | The 2025 F1 race could make or break the destination of the Canada Grand Prix:
Creton says that his restaurant, Chez Alexandre, generally brings between $ 100,000 to $ 200,000 in additional income on the weekend of Formula One, but much of that was lost last year after the Montreal Firefighters service forced him to tear down his tents because they were 18 inches too close to the main buildings.
“We were victims of a perfect storm last year,” says Sandrine Garneau, Operations Director of Octane Racing Group, the official organizer and promoter of the race. “Much of what happened last year was due to lack of communication.”
The pressure is this year
The failures of the 2024 Grand Prize have questioned Montreal’s commitment to organize Formula One and the competition of the organizers of the event.
“2025 is going to be a great test, everything will have to be absolutely impeccable, very, very acute, without setbacks. But I am not sure that this is enough to save the Canada Grand Prix,” says Auto Racing Columnist Piero Facchin.
Upon entering this edition, rumors are turning that the future of Montreal’s career could be in danger.
Facchin says that with 24 races in the circuit, Formula one has no space in its schedule to add more. But at the same time, places like Vietnam, Morocco, Argentina and Thailand are distressed to get an own grand prize.
In the past, the Canada Grand Prix was the only stop for Formula One in North America. But today there are races in Las Vegas, Austin, Miami and Mexico City, reducing the geographical advantage of Montreal.
Only a few weeks after the fall of the 2024 cadres, Formula one officials were part of the urgent meetings that included local organizers, the city of Montreal and other interested parties to establish the sequence of events that led the event to the custom.
François Dumontier, the head of Octane, the career organizer, resigned in August.
“It made us see enough bad and we have learned from that lesson,” says Alia Hassan-Cournol, councilor of the city responsible for the economic development of Montreal. “For this year we have changed many things. We have worked throughout the year with the partners and we are ready.”
New application, Canadian sensation this year
Formula one officials have assumed a much more active role in organization of the 2025 Grand Prix in Montreal.
“This is the first year in which we have been accompanied by Formula one in the way we have,” says Garneau, Octane’s director.
“This is as if you had been studying for an exam and now you need to meet that. So I would not say we are feeling the pressure. I would say that we are incredibly motivated and incredibly stimulated.”
He added that Octane has also consulted with other career organizers to learn more about how they direct their grand prize.
This year, the experience on the track should be greatly improved with the implementation of a new application that will help guide and inform fans of entertainment options on the site. There are also new maps of colored sites, improved food options, and Garneau says that the event will also feel much more Canadian, without being sticky.
“We are sure that this edition of the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix will show the world what Canada can do,” he says.
F1 ‘is here to stay’
Tourism Montreal says that last year’s race brought 300,000 spectators and $ 162 million in economic gain to local companies.
The city councilor, Hassan-Cournol, says that in the last year, Montreal has reviewed how his departments are communicated and that he is optimistic that 2024’s problems do not happen again.
“F1, I want to reassure everyone, it’s here to stay,” says Hassan-Cournol.
The Montreal Fire Department says that it has also made internal changes so that there will not be a repetition of the Peel Street debacle.
The Guy Lapointe spokesman says that inspectors are now trained to help companies find solutions to shoot code violations, instead of simply pointing them out. There is a 24/7 direct line to help solve disputes between companies and inspectors and additional administrative approval layers are required before a raid can be carried out.
Creton, the restorer, says that communication has improved dramatically before this year’s Grand Prix, added that the terrace in Peel Street can now be five larger feet, allowing more tables and more customers.
“It will be one of these beautiful great prize and we want it to stay in Montreal indefinitely,” he says.
Garneau says that despite rumors, fanatics of Canadian races should not worry about the immediate future of the Grand Prize. She points out the contract with Formula one that entitles Montreal to organize the event until at least 2031 and calls it “stone placed.”
But Carreras Facchin journalist is not so sure.
“It is not put in stone. Technically it is. But anything can happen.”
Facchin says that 2025 is a bit for Montreal and beyond that, the best argument that the city has is its historical connection with the sport that goes back to the dramatic victory of Gilles Villeneuve in 1978.
“The spirit of Gilles Villeneuve,” says Facchin, while admiring the heavens, “make the race stay!”
