Here's the story of how the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve came about. It's impossible that such a story could happen in these times, yet the Montreal track is still considered to be one of the most interesting on the F1 circuit.
HOW CIRCUIT GILLES VILLENEUVE WAS BORN IN A HALF HOUR
Nadine Fillion
tsn.ca
6/6/2014
Late 1977. Roger Peart receives a call from the president of the Fédération Automobile Québécoise. It's the Labatt beer company, the then-title sponsor of the Canadian Grand Prix held annually at Mosport near Toronto. They want to know if Montreal can host a Formula One race.
"Great question," says Peart, who then asks for a little time for reflection — 30 minutes to be precise.
"I first thought of Île Notre-Dame. Then, I looked at a route that would start and end at the Olympic Stadium, but that would have been devilishly complicated to implement. I even looked at [building a track at] Laval."
"We didn't have to go far down those roads," says Peart. "The first idea was always going to be the best."
After 30 minutes, he phoned his interlocutor back to tell him yes, Montreal could accommodate a full-fledged Formula One Grand Prix, and that the best venue was Île Notre-Dame – a man-made island built to host Expo 67 a decade earlier – if for no other reason than its excellent access to public transit...