OUR COMPLICATED LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE GRAND PRIX
Montreal comes alive like no other city on the racing circuit, with jet-set money pouring into hotels, restaurants and parties. Oh, the parties! It isn’t just the city’s biggest tourist cash infusion, it’s Canada’s. But green it isn’t. And does it really
The official website of Formula One racing publishes a destination guide for each of the events held around the world, in far-flung and exotic venues like Monaco, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
“Few places,” it says, “embrace their Grand Prix as enthusiastically as Montreal.” Tell us about it. Everyone knows Grand Prix weekend marks the unofficial start of summer in this city, when the sun-deprived shake off their winter blahs and layers of clothing to hit downtown streets and terrasses.
Knowledge of racing is optional. If there’s a party, Montrealers are there, enjoying the sights and sounds on Crescent and Peel Sts., or in Little Italy — wherever they spot the live bands, displays of sleek cars and parade of beautiful people.
Meanwhile, jammed bars, restaurants and hotels rake in the jet-set tourist dollars.
Of course, it’s mostly about the
Grand Prix, on Île Notre Dame. This year’s event takes place June 10-12, covering Friday practice, Saturday qualifying and the race on Sunday. It’s the seventh stop of 21 in the planet’s premier racing series.
It’s our country’s most important tourist event in terms of economic impact and international media coverage. Every year, the packed grandstands draw the admiration of visiting drivers and teams, and the envy of other host nations struggling to fill seats.
And, yet, Montreal’s love affair with its Grand Prix, like all relationships, has had its share of rough patches. There have even been a couple of brief breakups along the way. Fair to say, some people would like a permanent parting of ways.
A long-standing complaint is the use of millions of taxpayer dollars to cover hosting fees, no matter how much we’re told the payback is worth the investment.
There is also growing unease about celebrating a sport that belches pollution when our planet faces an environmental crisis.
So, what exactly fuels our romance with the Grand Prix? How do we even describe it? Is it some sort of love-hate relationship?
Let’s just say it’s complicated.
Formula One was born in Europe, so it’s not surprising it has found a welcome and mostly stable home in North America’s most European city.
Montreal’s event remains the only Canadian stop on the calendar, and though Austin, Tex., hosts a race, F1 has struggled to establish itself in the United States.
It helps boost interest when a sport produces local heroes. Gilles Villeneuve, who was born in StJean-sur-Richelieu and died in a 1982 crash in Belgium, remains among the most-revered F1 racers of all time.
His son, Jacques, became a national sensation in his own right as the first — and still only — Canadian to have won an F1 championship, in 1997, though his career largely sputtered from there.
There are no Canadians in the current lineup of drivers, but if there is a sentimental home team, it’s Ferrari, which enjoys a passionate following among Montreal’s large Italian community, among others.
Ferrari has enjoyed many successes here. Michael Schumacher, the winningest driver in the history of F1, rode the Prancing Horse to a record seven victories at the island track between 1994 and 2004.
“Montreal is a great city,” Schumacher said in 2011, after his move to Mercedes. “It feels like the whole city gets involved and creates a really nice atmosphere.”
The German, an avid outdoorsman, was known to extend his sojourn by a few days to enjoy the Laurentians. Tragically, a ski accident in France two and a half years ago left him with severe head injuries from which he is still struggling to recover.
F1 also has a rich British tradition, and the success of the current champion, Lewis Hamilton, has given many of this city’s pub patrons reason to celebrate.
At the same time, as a black driver, Hamilton has helped break down barriers in the largely white, male world of top-tier racing, bringing wider exposure to more audiences.
So has Indian-born Monisha Kaltenborn, the first woman to run an F1 team, Swiss-based Sauber.
“The support is incredible,” Hamilton said after his win here last year, surveying the crowd. “Lots of British flags, people from out here in Canada ... Grenadian flags, Barbados flags.”
Personalities aside, there is enthusiasm, too, for the show itself.
A common criticism about F1 is that races are too often processional, led by the same top drivers
in the same best cars. But Montreal is known for having delivered more than its fair share of drama over the years.
That goes back to the very beginning, in 1978, when, in a fairy-tale script, Gilles Villeneuve won the inaugural event at the circuit that would eventually carry his name.
To boot, it was his first career win — in a Ferrari, no less.
Hamilton, too, scored his maiden win here, in 2007, putting Montreal in the history books as the place where the first black driver won an F1 race.
It’s also where the longest-ever Grand Prix was held, in 2011, clocking in at more than four hours after being suspended midway because of torrential rain. Afterward, drivers marvelled that much of the soggy crowd had chosen to sit through the entire thing.
That race is still considered among the most chaotic of all-time, as drivers struggled to keep their cars pointed in the right direction on the drenched pavement, and Britain’s Jenson Button — in last place before the restart — skilfully picked through the pack to score an unlikely victory.
“This wasn’t just a Grand Prix,” a senior Mercedes official said at the time. “It was like an action movie.”
The track is often cited as a favourite among drivers, who enjoy the challenges posed by its singular design.
Super-slow bends give way to high-speed straights where cars hit 330 km/h, and the proximity of concrete barriers and shortage of run-off areas leave little room for error.
Not unlike Montreal’s public roads, however, trying to overcome the obstacles can end in frustration.
In 2008, the track surface began to crumble from stress and neglect soon after the cars hit the track. By the end of the weekend, it looked like the Turcot Interchange after a spring thaw, prompting Brazil’s Felipe Massa to threaten never to return.
Formula One was born in Europe, so it’s not surprising it has found a welcome and mostly stable home in North America’s most European city. Montreal’s event remains the only Canadian stop on the calendar.
“You’ve obviously got a culture of s--t roads out here,” commented Scotland’s David Coulthard, expressing what every road-weary Montrealer already knows.
Then there is the so-called Wall of Champions, at the final turn before the stretch to the finish line. That concrete barrier earned its nickname in mock honour of those who’ve crashed into it, including Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve — twice.
To add insult to injury and scattered car parts, the wall also became known for the slogan it used to carry: Bienvenue au Québec.
In every other way, though, the welcome is warm and generous — and appreciated. Drivers, teams and the rest of F1’s travelling entourage, which numbers 1,000 or more, are sincere when they say they love coming to Montreal, and they say it a lot.
One big reason is the proximity of the circuit to downtown, allowing them to stay in the city and soak up the party atmosphere. At venues where tracks are farther afield, drivers feel cut off from the vibe — if it even exists.
Germany’s Nico Rosberg, the current points leader who drives for Mercedes, has said he counts Montreal among his favourite F1 stops, and summed up its essence nicely: “It’s a beautiful but also crazy city where there is always a lot happening, particularly in the evenings.”
Or, as one St-Laurent Blvd. restaurateur put it, it’s the one weekend of the year Montreal gets to “act like a New York, like a Paris, like a London.”
That means high-end restaurants get to stock up on caviar and truffles, pricey wine and even more pricey Champagne, to satisfy the wants of F1’s travelling glamour crowd and the expense accounts of executives trying to woo clients.
It means downtown hotels fill up to more than 90 per cent occupancy, with average nightly rates jumping from roughly $170 to $375.
It means extra bookings as visitors — about half from outside Quebec — extend their weekend visit into a full vacation, while conventions jostle to schedule activities around the Grand Prix.
It means 500,000 attendance at the Crescent St. festival alone — good luck trying to squeeze through — and 300,000 pushes of the turnstiles at the race track.
It means, if you believe government figures, a financial windfall of up to $90 million for the local economy.
Sure, outlandish displays of outthere excess can be grating, but the large infusion of euros and greenbacks certainly is not.
It also means, for Montrealers who like car racing and even for those who do not, an opportunity to feel good about a city that has lost much of its lustre over the years.
No other local event draws the same kind of attention. Grand Prix racing is one of the highest-viewed sporting spectacles, up there with the Olympics and World Cup soccer.
The Montreal International Jazz Festival attracts large crowds, but not a global spotlight on the scale of F1, whose races are broadcast in more than 150 countries. Total viewership in 2014 was reported at 425 million.
Of all the races on the Grand Prix circuit, Montreal’s is among the most-watched, helped in large part by the early-afternoon start — prime time in Europe, where the fan base remains strongest.
Last year, close to 400 media members from 21 countries were accredited to cover the event.
Granted, the installations at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve can’t compete with Monaco’s shimmering glitz, Singapore’s high-tech gloss or Bahrain’s exotic desert setting, where the sand is glued down to prevent it from blowing onto the track.
Still, it’s hard not to be impressed by the stunning overhead images of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve amid the lush greenery of Île Notre Dame, whether you’re a TV viewer in another country or a Montrealer watching at home or with the bar crowds.
Montrealers are justifiably proud, too, of their celebrated savoir faire when it comes to putting on a world-class sporting event that draws high praise and large crowds year after year.
So what’s the problem?
“It’s starting to feel icky,” is how one F1 fan put it.
Or maybe former fan. The Montrealer admitted he hasn’t watched any races this season, and wasn’t even sure which team his favourite driver — Fernando Alonso of Spain — is with these days.
(Answer: McLaren-Honda. Alonso is a two-time champion who has won once in Montreal, in 2006, and has thus far managed to avoid intimate contact with the infamous Wall.)
Truth is, the ick factor is not entirely new, and has been quietly growing.
There has always been a measure of indifference toward the Grand Prix among some Montrealers, and downright hostility, too. Just ask South Shore residents who’ve had to put up with the noise of screaming engines from the track.
There are those who can do without the added congestion on roads and bridges that is already intolerable during roadwork season. Or the downtown hordes crowding streets and sidewalks.
For some, Grand Prix weekend is their cue to head for the cottage.
There are serious concerns about prostitution and child exploitation. A recent study cites Montreal as a destination for sex tourism, and refers to increased prostitution, some of it involving minors, around the Grand Prix.
While pro soccer scores points by inviting children to accompany players onto the field, F1 continues to leave itself open to criticism for employing curvy “grid girls” — paid models — to do little more than stand there and look pretty.
There are concerns, too, about human-rights abuses in some of the countries F1 goes racing, like Russia and China, as the series continues to expand to markets outside its traditional European base.
At the same time, heightened awareness about environmental issues has put into question the continued relevance of traditional motorsport, especially with the emergence of alternatives like Formula E, a globe-trotting series featuring all-electric cars that look like those in F1.
Mayor Denis Coderre is keen to bring an ePrix to Montreal, and the city has been pencilled in on a provisional calendar for July 2017 between stops in Berlin and New York. The race could be held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, though Formula E prefers to race in city centres to highlight the urban appeal of electric vehicles.
Formula E is now in its second season, and not only has it converted some fans of F1, it has attracted some of its former drivers — including Villeneuve for a short spell.
To be fair, F1 has veered into greener territory in recent years. The cars now use hybrid power units comprised of gasoline engines and electric motors.
Heat energy from the exhaust and brakes that would normally go to waste is converted into electricity by sophisticated on-board systems.
Any conversation about sustainability, proponents say, must take into account how such innovations might transfer from the race track to the driveway, or even into space. F1 serves as a laboratory of sorts for the development of more efficient aerodynamics and lighter materials for parts and bodywork.
F1’s influence can turn up in the most unexpected places. One British hospital looked at how pit stop techniques might apply to timepressed procedures used in the resuscitation of newborn babies. The best pit crews can change all four wheels on a car in 2.5 seconds or less.
The dilemma for F1 is that, in trying to answer to its critics, it risks alienating the purists for whom the smell of exhaust is perfume, and the noise of engines opera.
When F1 switched to hybrid engines in 2014, organizers of the Australian Grand Prix threatened legal action, arguing noise is an integral part of the spectacle, and the quieter power units shortchanged spectators.
Sure enough, the formula in Formula One — the rules and technical specifications — is set to change again in 2017, with the return of faster, noisier cars that will consume more fuel than what is allowed under current regulations. No doubt, this will do nothing to endear F1 to its detractors.
At least, whatever the complaints, the worthwhile economic impact of staging a Grand Prix — the money spent, taxes collected and jobs created — is clear and undisputed. Or is it? The question is worth asking, given the wide range in figures provided by various levels of government and other stakeholders. Ottawa has estimated the annual spinoffs of the Montreal event at $71 million, Quebec at $89 million. You can drive a truck through that gap, or several sleek racing cars.
An updated study with more precise data has been promised, but not yet delivered, or at least made public.
A 2011 audit by Ernst & Young came up with estimated spinoffs of between $32 million and $39 million from the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, a city not unlike Montreal.
Any of these amounts would seem to justify the current contract with F1 management and its CEO, Bernie Ecclestone, which secures the Canadian Grand Prix through 2024 at an average annual cost of $18.7 million.
The bill is shared by the federal and provincial governments, plus the City of Montreal and its tourism bureau.
That’s considered a bargain. Average hosting fees have been estimated at $33 million. Canada gets a break because of its longterm relationship with F1, which goes back to 1967, with races held at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ont., and Mont-Tremblant before moving to Île Notre Dame.
Still, there are other costs. Under the contract, Montreal is committed to spending $32 million in track upgrades by 2017. Local promoter François Dumontier, head of Octane Racing Group, has said he wants a signature building put up to give the circuit a new identity.
In December, six months after the last Grand Prix, Dumontier revealed to La Presse he was running a deficit, and some suppliers had not yet been paid.
He said he was searching for new investors in his company and a title sponsor for the race. As yet, no progress has been reported on either front.
The apparent difficulties are a reminder of previous problems that temporarily bumped Montreal off the F1 calendar — most recently in 2009, when Ecclestone demanded more cash and upgraded facilities. In the end, a settlement was reached, and the race returned the following year.
And they come at a time when F1 more generally seems to be stuck in neutral, if not reverse. TV audiences, while still impressive, have been falling. Some venues and teams are struggling to pay bills or retain sponsorships.
Dumontier insists the Montreal race is safe for the foreseeable future, and there is no reason to believe otherwise. Ticket sales for this year’s edition, he said, are outpacing those of last year.
“We had to add grandstands,” he told the Montreal Gazette.
Despite everything, the love affair, it seems, still burns.
“The city grinds to a halt over the race weekend as fans from around the world descend on Quebec for a non-stop party,” says the F1 destination guide, and it’s not wrong.
However, it could have added: For better or for worse.
Of all the races on the Grand Prix circuit, Montreal’s is among the most-watched.