With so many inexperienced drivers in the series this season, it's not surprising when many have not competed on an upcoming track.
Montreal goes a bit beyond that however, as an astonishing one-third of the field has never competed at the circuit in a Formula One event. Vitaly Petrov, Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi, Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Hulkenberg, Karun Chandhok, Lucas di Grassi and Bruno Senna are all drivers who have yet to turn a lap at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in F1, and it would be understandable Sunday if there were a fair amount of caution periods.
After all, the Wall of Champions on the outside of the final chicane has claimed the cars of numerous superstars, including Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, so rookies should be on high alert this coming weekend.
Villeneuve's father, Gilles, is the only Canadian winner of this event and had the track named after him following his death in 1982. He won the inaugural F1 race here, his first career series victory.
Won home Grand Prix in inaugural event (circuits on current schedule)
Year -- Driver -- Circuit
1978 -- Gilles Villeneuve -- Montreal (Canada)
1973 -- Emerson Fittipaldi -- Interlagos (Brazil)
1950 -- Nino Farina -- Monza (Italy)
The track certainly has a nice flow to it; the frontstretch is broken by a fast chicane, while the back side of the circuit is dictated by a set of quick left- and right-handers. Between the frontstretch and backstretch is a sweeping turn after the start/finish line as well as a tight, signature hairpin that spills out onto the front straightaway.
You would think a notably smooth driver such as Jenson Button would have great success at Gilles Villeneuve, but that has not been the case. In nine races here, the driver currently second in points has finished better than 11th just twice, and has collected points only once.
Not surprisingly, Michael Schumacher dominated here in his heyday, winning a total of seven Montreal events. He's the only driver on the grid this year with more than a single win, and when he does line up on the grid this weekend, it will be his 258th race, passing Italian Riccardo Patrese for second on F1's all-time list. Only Rubens Barrichello, who is approaching his 300th grand prix this weekend, has more.
It's yet another milestone in an incomparable career, but one of the few records that Schumacher will likely never hold.
Notable records Michael Schumacher does not hold
Schumacher stat -- Record
Grand prix entries: 258 -- 296 (Rubens Barrichello )
Age at first win: 23 years -- 21 years (Sebastian Vettel)
Career win pct.: 35 -- 47 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
A driver who has never won at Montreal, Mark Webber, dominated the headlines this week after extending his contract with Red Bull for another season. A few weeks ago, the rest of the season appeared as though it would be filled with headlines of musical chairs, with several drivers swapping seats for the upcoming season. Since then, Webber has re-signed with Red Bull, Felipe Massa has re-signed with Ferrari, and Robert Kubica's manager has said that his driver will remain with Renault for 2011. While there are no guarantees, it appears as though the most talked about drivers will be with the same teams next year.
That would not be overly surprising, however. This past offseason in Formula One was chaotic, and few teams are likely to make drastic changes two years in a row. One needs only to look at another motorsports series for an example. Following the 2008 Sprint Cup season, no less than a dozen cars had new primary drivers for the 2009 year. It was one of the busiest offseasons in the series' history (as was this year's F1 break). This past winter, on the other hand, was relatively quiet, with only a few major drivers swapping teams.
Among the considerable changes prior to this season in Formula One was Toyota's withdrawal from the series. That left Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli without seats, until Glock signed on with Virgin and Trulli joined Lotus. No drivers in the sport have endured a harder season than these two, considering where they were a year ago. Toyota had made great strides, and it's difficult to see Glock and Trulli driving for upstart, struggling teams. Through seven events, neither driver has finished better than 15th, and the two have combined for eight retirements.
Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock through seven Races, last two seasons
Stat -- 2009 -- 2010
Podiums -- 3 -- 0
Best finish -- third -- 15th
Best start -- first -- 16th
Retirements -- second -- eighth
Neither team has been making much progress since the start of the year. Glock and Trulli remain four to five seconds off the pace at every event in qualifying, and the two have combined to reach Q2 just once. The pair remain the best example of how much these new teams need to improve before they can even hope to compete with the strong runners, as both racers were fairly competitive with the top teams last year.
