The hop over to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix normally never fails to produce some memorable Formula 1 moments. Whether it be home favourite Gilles Villeneuve winning the first race on the Ill-Notre Dame in 1978 or Nigel Mansell accidentally retiring on the final lap in 1991 on his way to victory, the part-street track is always good for some drama or celebration. RacingNews365 has selected five moments you might have forgotten from the Canadian Grand Prix - starting with the #27 Ferrari winning once again in Canada.
Jean Alesi wins in 1995
What's in a number? Whether it be Mansell and 'Red 5', Ayrton Senna and #12 or Lewis Hamilton's #44, some numbers become so intwined with their drivers for one reason or another. To the above list, we can Villeneuve and #27 - despite the Canadian only using it towards the end of his career before his untimely death at Zolder in Belgium in 1982. 13 years after Villeneuve's passing, the #27 Ferrari would claim victory at the circuit carrying his name as Jean Alesi finally cracked the winning code - on his 31st birthday to record the final win for a V12 engine. An emotional Alesi was running second behind Michael Schumacher, but an electrical problem handed the Frenchman the lead as the Benetton was forced to pit. Alesi finally saw the chequered flag first for a popular win as he hitched a ride back to the pits from Schumacher.
2008 - Hamilton rams Raikkonen
In 2008, a red light at the end of the pit-lane under the Safety Car would unwittingly cause probably the biggest blunder of Hamilton's career. Leading the race, the McLaren driver led the charge into the pits on Lap 16 when Adrian Sutil's Force India retired, but quick work from Ferrari had Kimi Raikkonen out ahead - with the reigning champion waiting patiently at the end of the pit-lane for the green light to re-enter the track. But Hamilton failed to see it as he rammed into the back of Raikkonen - putting both out of the race, as Nico Rosberg also picked up damage but was able to continue. The upside for the rest was that it allowed BMW Sauber to assume control of the race, with Nick Heidfeld or Robert Kubica going to be the winner. Heidfeld allowed the Pole through as he had one more stop to do, which eventually became the pass for the win. Kubica would take his only career F1 win, 12 months after that horror accident at the hairpin, as 'Quick Nick' took yet another podium but never the win that alluded him. David Coulthard also claimed his final podium with third place in the Red Bull.
2014 - Perez vs Massa
There are 31 different versions of the truth in F1: 20 drivers, 10 team bosses and then what actually happened. Even now, nine years on, you probably could not get Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez to agree on what happened on the final lap of the 2014 race. Battling for third place behind Vettel, Perez and Massa collided left-rear to right-front on the run to Turn 1 through the slight right kink - spitting both into the barrier, with Vettel doing extremely well to avoid being side-swiped by Massa's Williams. The Safety and Medical Cars were deployed as Williams claimed Perez had jinked left to collect Massa while the Force India view was that the Brazilian had simply miscalculated and hit the Mexican. As one esteemed commentator might say, it was all rather six of one, half a dozen of the other. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo claimed his first career win by overtaking an ailing Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes as their 100% winning record to start the turbo hybrid era came to an end. Hamilton was forced to retire with brake problems as the MGU-K units on both cars failed seconds apart, costing them 160bhp. Rosberg limped home in second while Hamilton recorded a second DNF of the year as Rosberg and Vettel flanked first-time winner Ricciardo on the podium.
2016 - Seagulls
Vettel's rocket start in 2016 split the front-row of the Mercedes duo, and led to Hamilton just making sure that Rosberg was forced into the run-off at Turn 1... And so began a game of cat and mouse between the two champions with Hamilton one-stopping in cold conditions in Montreal and leader Vettel going for a two, the first being partly done under a Virtual Safety Car for Jenson Button's McLaren retiring. However, Vettel could not reel Hamilton in on the final stint as they took a one-two, but the real highlight came post-race live on Sky Sports. Vettel gate-crashed Hamilton's interview, claiming a lock-up at Turn 1 was down to two seagulls sitting on the track. Cue hilarious scenes as the production team tried to search for the clip in question, with Hamilton supporting the claims of Vettel. Eventually, the seagulls were spotted as TV gold was made.
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