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Who knew that Canadian cops are so uptight! One would have thought it’s the American cops who don’t have an understanding regarding what justice means!
Not sure if this was sarcasm but Canadian police at their worst are just as bad the American police at their worst. The Saskatoon Freezing Deaths were fucking evil, and no one got properly punished for them.
> The Saskatoon Freezing Deaths were fucking evil, and no one got properly punished for them.
The Wikipedia article on this has a fantastic section about censorship, as the Saskatoon police kept trying to [remove references to the article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatoon_freezing_deaths#Censorship_attempts) over the course of 4 years.
Candian cops are actually quite horrible on par with American and French police with their roots going back to the relocation of indigenous people
If you are a native american woman you will be advised against seeking help from Canadian police
That's not true, we have a lot of great cops in my country. But we also require university training, psychological testing and a trial period before becoming a full policeman. The way you train your police will be reflected in how they act.
Yeah. I've lived in countries with great police (Norway, NL, UK), and countries with police you really, really worry about (Egypt, Jordan). Usually people making statements like "cops are cops wherever you go" haven't lived in a place where a cop can throw you in prison for two weeks - or as happened in the case of an acquaintance of mine, two years - for no reason with little or no recourse to get you out.
We're not contradicting each other. I never said that police in Western European countries are flawless (they very much aren't), but due to a combination of American discourse and a serious lack of understanding of how good most Western European police forces are compared to the rest of the world, people have a habit of blowing things way out of proportion.
As part of my work I've worked with Dutch police and the amount of PVV voters among them is scary as fuck, but none of the non-white guys I've spoken to have said they're afraid the police is going to smack the shit out of them. It's more the endless non-random "random" selection that they're sick of.
remember it’s quebec cops, not canadian cops per say. they don’t think they’re canadian and we don’t rlly associate with them either 💀💀💀
good old quebeckers
And they didn't recognize Lewis Hamilton either in the paddock area, his entourage had to step in. This was on Friday morning. Even TSN's media people were having problems accessing the facilities, they're the host broadcaster, a total shit show.
They probably switched so that the promoter in 2020 could declare bankruptcy and keep all the ticket money they collected for a race that never happened. I spent $700 on tickets only to be told that F1 wasn't responsible, contact the promoter, who never answered a single communication from anyone.
Amex is incredible. I’ve only had a few experiences where I’ve had to dispute charges but they’ve been quick, efficient, and to the point. I’ve also never encountered a wait time with customer service.
They carried over tickets to the following year.
(Which was a pain because there were almost no tickets available to buy as a result)
It’s around then that they switched. So would make sense.
That's why it's best to buy tickets direct from the circuit/promoter. Formula 1 doesn't sell tickets or organize the event, the promoters do. I had tickets for 2020 and they rolled over into 2022 and it gave me the option to renew for 2023.
The F1 ticket store is run by a third party agency based out of monaco, the platinum group. They are legit but they get to wash their hands when races get cancelled.
by their nature the are very fly by night operations. they put on one event a year and it's basically hosting someone else's event.
And the goverement is backing it directly so that's helful
I'm disappointed that one of the best races of the season seems to have been a nightmare off-track. Photographer Kym Illman has made numerous posts highlighting fan frustration at the circuit, and mainstream F1 media have already made articles highlighting the disarray.
I'm not surprised in the least that our logistics were not up to standard.
I would have been surprised if it went well.
You got the Quebec/Montreal special
I went to last year’s race and was surprised how the simplest things weren’t taken care of. Example: They cram everyone through these cattle chutes that are dirt and at low depressions and guess what? It’s sometimes rains in Montreal. When it does you get these mud pits that are impossible to pass unless you were OK with getting mud up to your knees. My wife was already grumpy that she had to stand in long lines for the porta potty - not being able to get to the porta potty at all didn’t go down well. Eventually, they brought by a truck with a whole bunch of gravel, which made the area passable. Like why didn’t you guys do that before as a permanent measure?
I was there this year and last year. While I think there’s room for improvement, I didn’t experience the issues others raised. Got in and out of the track relatively quickly on the metro given the amount of people. Police directed people firmly but politely in my experience. There was mud because of the rain, but came prepared with hiking shoes and it was fine.
There was lots of off track fun activities. Loved the McLaren x Lego legos you got to build. Heineken terrace was a great place to relax. Lots of great food options, and not over priced. Though I wish they had more than just Heineken available as a beer option.
All the people that say the metro was easy, are generally sitting in the hairpin.
I dobthe no rush to leave strat, and hang out for 1-2 hours then grab a taxi from the casino. That's fairly drama free. I hate standing in crowds and line so it's the best option for me. I also sit in GS12 and have a water taxi from behind my grand stand to the casino.
There were big crowds for the metro but the pace was relatively quick considering. We sat at Family GS and it was about 25 mins to get into the metro once we arrived there. Quali day was a touch longer since they had congestion from the people arriving at the same time for the Pitbull concert.
It was my first time at the Canadian GP and I was very satisfied with my experience. Granted, I got there early and stayed all day so I didn't experience the bridge closure or anything, so my perspective on the matter is definitely my own and not reflective of the overall experience, but I had an absolute blast. Loved the Monster Energy zone and getting to see the skate and FMX demos, and I felt everything was way more accessible than the USGP which I went to in 2022 (my first GP). I fully expected the wait to get into the Metro after quali/race day to be a lot worse than it was. I was very surprised at how efficient everything ran, but I am also from America so the concept of functioning and efficient public transit is a foreign concept to me. Eager to go back. However, I really do feel for the people who had to deal with the bridge closure and all the miscommunication. Sounds like there were many things I didn't see that needs to be addressed.
My wife and I went last year and went all three days and although yes, taking the metro back every day was a bit of a pain, we got home quicker than Austin the same year parking at the track and driving. We spent an hour in our car just sitting on a random side road to leave after the race just to witness someone get impatient and get t boned. I gladly took the wait for the train in Montreal over whatever Texas thought “traffic diversion” means.
Same thing for me. I am in Family Grandstand. We sit around for about 30 mins after the last event then go for the metro. There is a small crowd but it is not that bad, the metro is pretty efficient for the amount of people taking it.
I heared people talk about the Friday debacle of police saying F1 is cancelled, but I was already on-site and at my GS we have not seen any chaos of all weekend.
I was happy about the food prices too. Going into the track, having heard about all the price gouging at races, I wasn't surprised to see things like an order of poutine for $15.
It took a while for my stars-and-stripes self to remember that $1 CAD is about $0.75 USD.
That part in his most recent video showing them blocking off the view for the GA people in one spot an hour before the race makes my blood boil. Those people would have ran to those spots as soon as the track opened to get those views, and with no warning, the organizers closed it off. Had anyone known they were doing that, none of those people would have chosen that spot, but of course the organizers didn't think that far in advance. GA already kinda sucks for Montreal as it is, but that just seemed like an absolute slap in the face.
F1 usually forces the organizers to make changes if something fucks up and goes awry. But with a contract locked in until 2031, I wonder how motivated they will be.
Some F1 fans (including Sky commentators) can not function unless they are criticizing something about the sport. It's been this way since the start. So even if it was a fun exciting race weekend they will need to find something, anything, to grasp on to so they can let that bitchiness out.
I've heard a lot of complaints about a lot of Grand Prix recently.
Apparently Monza was hell last year, but when I went in 2016 it was an absolute dream. I presume something's changed, either the organisation or maybe the popularity really is outgrowing the circuit facilities
I have to agree that the facilities were terrible in the paddock, with two men’s cubicles on a mobile toilet serving 3 teams. However, the team parking situation was a lot better and traffic management seemed to be an improvement
It’s been 5 years since I visited but, with all things considered, I thought the transport to and from the track and across the bridges was pretty well organised. It’s not an easy venue for massive sporting event.
However the HUGE let down was that the portaloos ran out of water on the morning of the Sunday. The actual toilet blocks that had been open on the Friday and Saturday had been locked. We told one of the staff and they just shrugged, so we had to wash our hands in expensive bottled water. You wonder where the people making the food were cleaning their hands…
This year there was no water or hand sanitizer to be found anywhere. It was disgusting.
The metro system was incredibly efficient though. We got on the train within 20 minutes even with a massive crowd leaving at the same time.
There was cold water dispensers under all the fidelity booths in the general admissions areas. I saw 4 booths myself walking around but there may have been more. longest wait I had was 5 minutes but often more around 30 seconds. EDIT: but as pointed out by u/TacoTenspeed , there was nothing to clean yourself at the portapottys.
However, the urinal portapotty near grandstand 31 was overflowing by Sunday morning. People were just going on the perimeter fence.
This was the same problem last year in the Senna corner area. The sinks ran out of water on Friday and did not get refilled. I think on Saturday and Sunday they added some hand sanitizer stations instead but there was about a day with nothing at all. What a miss.
It was shocking that there was no infrastructure at all for it from what I saw. Not one hand wash station at any of the bathroom sites that I saw (which was a lot of them) and no hand sanitizer in the bathrooms either. I'm from Ontario and know that every event is required to have hand washing/sanitary options here. Not sure about Quebec, but it seemed like a massive oversight.
Total oversight, especially for how much they increased ticket prices over the past two years (but especially this year). I attended 2023 and 2022. In 2022 there weren't any water/sanitizer issues but we were still exiting the pandemic so it would have been harder to justify. By 2023 it was clear in our seating area nobody gave a fuck about maintaining the bathroom area. Sad to hear it was the same this year.
One easy fix is to reduce the number of tickets sold to say 250000 for the weekend versus the current 350000. Can see why they wouldn't want to do that but it would make it more enjoyable for everyone.
They might do it if they thought they could double the ticket price and sell them all as luxury VIP tickets with an extra 10cm width on your seat and fast track access to the merch stall.
And yet you will probably still have people coming in like the kids we dealt with beside us on Sunday trying to squeeze two people into one grandstand seat.
When I walked into my living room to watch the race, it was exact moment the security wasn’t going to let him through the pit walk. He’s holding a sky sports mic and has a camera man following him and the security was telling him no. Laughable
It is an unfortunate truth
There are 3 footbridges spanning the entire circuit for pedestrian traffic and those are frequented by event staff vehicles too
The metro is one stop that on this weekend needs to service something like 150k people on Sunday
To boot, the pit lane is physically limited by the edge of the island, hence why the team trucks are located away from the garages. It is a man made island, so maybe that could be an infrastructure project for the future. But I’d be hard pressed to imagine that Montreal citizens would be interested in using their tax dollars to widen a pitlane for 1 weekend each year
And for all that, I hope they never leave it because (and I am biased as a Canadian) it is the most unique setting on the calendar. The cars accelerating out of T2 with the MTL skyline in the background is one of the prettiest camera angles in racing, and the track itself is stunning
Also find me another track that is placed within the city metro system its so close, but you don't need to close city streets for it.
Its perfect because the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is basically still in Montreal, but it doesn't fuck up montreal traffic itself for 2 weeks before and after the race
It's a beautiful setting for an F1 race. One of the more unique and beautiful ones on the calendar.
>I hope they never leave it
We're good at least until 2031, that's how long the Canadian GP contract is with F1.
This is what I feel like people really don’t get. Perhaps the circuit should make it more clear but all 3 days of the GP I got from the circuit to McGill station in 45 minutes. The police in the station at the track were directing everyone on the platforms as much as they could. There’s ultimately only so much you can do about moving that many people off an island with 3 exits.
I agree, had no problems outside of waiting an extra 15 minutes Friday morning when the hail caused them to temp close the metro to the island for safety. Yes, it's absolutely packed, but I don't quite know what people expect otherwise.
Actually the Olympic rowing basin is the limiting factor. It’s a fairly niche sport (along with dragon boating and kayaking) and the rowing club loses money. Not unlikely that it gets purchased and paved over at some point.
I highly doubt they will pave over the lake. Canada is one of the bigger rowing Olympic countries (alongside UK, NZ, Germany, USA etc) especially as Hudson one of the most premium boat manufacturers being based in Canada. The lake itself would most likely be used for training or seat racing.
In terms of facilities I highly agree, rowing/ water sports facilities are different in terms of volumes compared to F1. I maybe best to switch venues for F1 in Canada but personally I wouldn't want that to happen. It's one of my favourite tracks with a lot of history.
They could make it much better though...
Just by opening the access to Victoria Bridge you have entrance/exit on both sides of the circuit. Pretty much splitting the people in half.
There's an underutilized train station 20 minutes from the same bridge that could be leveraged to bring people to downtown by using the commuter trains that pass there.
They should include the cost of public transportation on the ticket and check it when you enter the island not when you leave. Every other person has a problem with the turnstile and delays the boarding... That cannot happen when you have 150k people trying to board the metro.
The bag checks at the entrance were so bad that I don't really see the point... At least the line was short
We need a solution for mud through the narrow paths...
The bag check was hilarious. Friday and Sunday, they barely looked in my bag - I had all the zippers open and everything. On Saturday, the person looked in every single compartment and smelled the water in my water bottle.
Another thing was people clogging up the lines into the Metro because they needed to buy their ticket to LEAVE the island. It was a real people being people moment. Not even considering how they got to the track in the first place, but knowing you're going to take the metro back and waiting til the end when everyone is trying to leave as the time to buy your ticket is just dumb thinking.
I did find it odd that they had bag check on the first island prior to crossing the bridge that had about 6-8 lanes but then the other bridge that most people were using didn't do bag check till you crossed and it only had 2 lanes causing a massive backup of people. My partner and I took that bring on Friday, got onto the bridge around 1030, didn't thru bag check til about 1145. While the view is nice, it gets stale after about an hour and fifteen minutes of it.
One could say the same of Imola, for which there are only two bridges on the town side, but Imola works fine.
It's just poor organisation from the municipality and the track.
I disagree. Any event has issues with handling massive crowds. Access points is just one of the things that you need to work on, but what also helps is organizing enough stuff that makes sure the crowd doesn't leave en masse once the race is over.
The year I went to Montreal there was a small concert after the race, it wasn't a lot but we figured better to hang out there for a bit to avoid the initial rush.
I hope you mean Nürburgring and not Nuremberg. Nuremberg/Nürnberg does have a streetcourse([Norisring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norisring)) too but that one definitely is not fit for F1.
Speaking of track facilities, does Spa have proper car parks? Each year I see people always parking and getting stuck in muddy fields.
I remember in 2021 this guy towing cars with his tractor.
I mean, this most traditional race tracks. When it rains, it gets super muddy.
Montreal in comparison doesn’t even have much parking. It’s a park not a race track, so the few parking spots are just grass spots that happen to fit cars.
Canadians in the comment section all said that the police aggression, hostility and totalitarian attitude to both fans and George Russell was absolutely normal, standard practice for what they see and experience. Sounds like they've taken a leaf out from American police.
Nonsense. The police where I live are perfectly fine. If anything, they’re too passive with certain things (e.g. traffic enforcement).
I grew up in the US. I know what shit stains the cops there are. It’s definitely not the same everywhere.
The differences between US and Canadian police are pretty minor. There's probably less legal protection for Cops who do stuff like kill people. That and there's not as many crazy weirdos in Canada IMO. Like the amount of Kyle Rittenhouse kids in Canada is way lower.
Day to day normal cop stuff is probably pretty much the same. They pull from almost the same pool of applicants at least. I would say Canadian cops are probably much much better paid. but it's the same dudes from your high school who are cops.
The Montreal police should be ashamed of themselves. Somebody needs to pushed them to take up responsibilities for their own incompetent and hostile attitude.
Honestly Protopodites was probably the real issue for most people. I fell like it's probably very hard to keep up with and it's a very unsexy problem for someone to care about prior to the event. (like you sign a contract for them, but not as much thought went into it)
"F1 has outgrown" is the problem here. Screw that attitude.
An F1 is an outdoor event, not luxury resort. The variation in venues is what gives F1 flavor, it doesn't all need to be standardized luxury.
Traditional events like Spa, Silverstone, Monza etc can get messy. So what? There's Monaco, Miami, Abu Dhabi etc on the other side.
Sure, there's room for improvement. But if F1 outgrows a track for any other reason than safety, F1 is the problem.
If a track can't handle the size of crowd they are trying to cram into it, then that is on the promoter for selling more tickets than is reasonable.
You don't need to chase every dollar. Sometimes selling less tickets for a better experience at a slightly higher price is actually the better move. When people report that the experience was great, the tickets can sell for even more the next year.
When you sell too many tickets and people complain about the experience, the bad reports can make it harder to sell tickets in the future.
But there lies the rub, if we want cheaper tickets, we need more of them, and more tickets means facilities will be overwhelmed.
The vast majority will always pick cheaper tickets over a better experience. People are extremely adaptable and resistant to change, they will always moan and rant about the organisation but they will be right back the following year. We have seen in the past how bad the ticket sales got when the equilibrium of price per entertainment was unbalanced, now that some more venues are trying to keep at least part of the tickets affordable and the entertainment on offer by the show is high the sales are better. The promoters see and realize this, they won't change just to experiment with things going against their own data.
Given the massive fees FOM charges for hosting a GP, the promoters have no choice but to keep raising ticket prices and try to cram as many people into the circuit as possible in order to hope to make a profit.
In response to a comment above, Monte Carlo is basically "an island park that not built for major sports events" and is "logicstically awful for F1" but I guess the money factor makes F1 overlook that...
They're both kinda like my home track, Lime Rock Park: if someone were to propose building that track today we'd all say "eff that silly idea" and ridicule the idea and move on. But because of its history and legacy we look at it with admiration.
Canada (and Monaco) are part of F1 history. So we tolerate - and enjoy - their foibles and differences.
Unless you'd like more Tilke tracks...
i was there, had no issues other than when security yelled at us before fp1 when we were trying to use the grandstand as shelter from the hail and thunder (slightly understandable). though obviously i was not in the paddock, but logistically to me this beats COTA in a landslide
They complained about the paddock, so they built a new and better one. They complained about the track, so they resurfaced it. They complained about runoffs and stuff, so they fixed that.
You can't just expect a track to change completely overnight. These things take time and investments can't be done in a single year. You need to give them the chance to improve.
At least with this track you see them making an effort and improving things. I have no doubt that the issues from last weekend, which have been exacerbated by the rain, will be taken care of. They have shown they are willing to invest.
This! There were numerous improvements this year based on pain points from last year, like adding artificial turf in the muddiest high traffic areas. No reason the believe they wont keep improving for next year.
Right? They've consistently done everything that was asked of them; and having been nearly 20 times over the past many years; the event is still quite well-organized all things considered. This past weekend's event seems to have been an outlier in terms of what the experience was like.
Yea, turning fans away from free practice and meshing up the fence right before the race for some GA spots was beyond ridiculous. Canadian GP officials need to be ashamed and reprimanded.
That’d never happen. The Toronto Indy is a much smaller venue with even fewer facilities. There is not going to be a massive influx of cash to make something like Miami happen here nor is FOM going to bank roll a race like they did in Vegas.
For better or worse, this is the best and likely only potential F1 venue in Canada.
Some insight from someone who was there and has been 6x to Montreal for the race: they did the best they could, and anyone who came unprepared for the weather really has to look in the mirror. If it rains in Montreal you need to bring a poncho and boots that can handle getting wet. This was a well attended race on an island - things will feel crowded in spots. If it’s not your thing it’s not something that can be changed.
Yup exactly this. Only gripe I have is with the cops telling people the day was canceled and to leave on Friday. I looked at the cop, laughed and said ok man. Then i went in line and got in in time for fp1. The rest was just normal Montreal GP shenanigans.
We go annually to the race but lately have been selling our tickets due to growing families, boring races etc.
Last year was the first year we went since the pandemic began.
I will say it rained probably more than this year on all 3 days except Sunday.
I don't understand why they cant pave a few paths so its not a muddy, dirty mess getting to the grandstands if it's wet.
The practice sessions used to be quite sparse, like good turnouts but not full. Now even fp1 is packed.
The shuttles and bridges to the metro were absolutely rammed and at a standstill.
They have a lot more track tours and track walks so the number of supporting races has decreased drastically, seems like a lot of downtime.
The day ends much later because f1 moved up all the times so instead of getting to your hotel at 4-5pm you're getting there at 7-8pm on the Thurs-Sat.
These are not deal breakers by any stretch for most people but personally for me is a bit too much.
I mean other than the miscommunication of Friday when they were telling people the day is cancelled and to go home, which is terrible don't get me wrong, it wasn’t all that bad. Been going the last 12 years and it wasn’t really worse than any other years.
Multiple Montreal cops at the Metro station on Friday told my friends and I multiple times that the “whole day was cancelled” and to go home. After seeing nothing about that online we got out of the metro station through the entrance and got in line to get in the track and no surprise nothing was actually cancelled. On another note one way they could make the metro on the island far more efficient when people are exiting the venue would be to make it free at that station only. The turnstiles are a huge bottleneck with absolutely everyone having to tap the metro cards before going through and a lot of the trains leave half full. Fans would still have to pay for the metro to get to the event on all the days so they wouldn’t be losing much in revenue either.
It wasn’t that bad to be honest, yeah the rain didn’t help but the crowd knew what they were doing and at some points felt like a British festival which wasn’t the worst thing.
The confusion on Friday about the island being evacuated or closed messed people up. The real issue was there was nothing to do there it was all BS.
Race made up for it
Not that I don't think the GP couldn't be managed better, but my reaction to this of course was to wish Brundle would shut his fucking mouth because we all know the venue being outgrown would mean losing an amazing track with great history to yet another "state of the art" oil money/human rights violations funded, soulless track in the middle east.
I hope they get this fixed for those affected, as long as the price isn't moving to yet another lifeless cookie cutter circuit at some North American parking lot just to facilitate the behind the scenes superficiality.
If they can make it work in Monaco they can make it work anywhere.
All I’m hearing is Martin wants another street race. I’m seeing a big parking lot around Exhibition Place, BMO Field, and Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto that looks natural for a course if they stay in Canada rather than USA or a Middle East oil country. /s
Absolutely, I had police office try and break my group up while boarding the train after a 1.5 hr wait in the rain. And then when i mentioned to him we were all together he asked if we thought we were better than everyone else and then got in my face and asked me if i had a problem. I walked away from him and he kept saying stuff to me, physically shoved my gf trying to get to me, and then told me to walk away, to which I responded that I walked away and he followed me to this spot. Unreal experience, with the crowds and the transportation, you would think its the first time they host.
Sounds like you’ve had your run in with the bus and metro “police” (public security aka pubes)
These guys are bigger assholes than the actual cops and have the biggest superiority complex on the island, even go as far as copying cop cars and logos and uniforms to make themselves look as intimidating as possible.
I agree. I went last year and it was the same. A muddy logistical mess. The train to and from the island is fine, but the wait is horrendous.
In my opinion they should limit the fans attendance, remove half of the seating.
I've been the past 3 years and never went in the 2000s when the Montreal GP was also massively popular so I can't compare, but I will agree that this year was a lot slower moving with so many bottlenecks to get in and out. Took about 2 hours to leave from Grandstand 12 (Turn 1-2). 20 mins just to turn the corner from Grandstand 12 to 11 (Turn 2 to straight). At least an hour to turn the corner and enter Metro. Limited shelter from rain.
If they just banned cars outside of staff, teams, shipping and emergency vehicles, then the vast majority of walking attendees can use the roads to walk in and out relieving a ton of the bottlenecks and providing more options to move. They also didn't allow people to walk the track back after race day which is new and added more bottlenecks.
I bet the pedestrian to driver ratio is literally 5000:1 so you may as well just open up those arteries and create more pathways to access and exit the venue. That's my 2 cents.
EDIT - Worth mentioning that the signs for all this were here 3 years ago. Bad port-a-potty placement, bottlenecks, mud, lines. Some of this stuff can be improved like moving port-a-potty off the walking paths. They also overflowed with piss by Sunday.
I attended with a child in a stroller. First ever grand-prix. Good thing we had the all-terrain stroller or else that mud would've made it impossible!
Also, at one point we encountered a pedestrian bridge with 1000 people trying to cross it that was not accessible to us. We left the stroller attached to a picnic bench with a bike lock. Thankfully was still there hours later when we came back that way!
On track was great but a total shit show off track, getting into and out of the track and general police bullying across the entire weekend. If local authorities hate it so much, maybe they should move the race elsewhere.
Add insult to injury, they’re raising ticket prices 10%+ next year
Couldn’t agree more. I’m from Montreal and have been going to the race for years but this years off track chaos made it feel like it was the cities first time hosting the race. All 3 days were an absolute nightmare when it came to leaving the event and it was also clear the cops and security had no idea what they were doing. An absolute shame and disgrace. The city is taking the event for granted right now
I think its a problem that is only getting worse by the year in terms of venues not being able to handle the growth of the media and crowd.
I know a few who are not going to Spa because not only are the ticket prices high but the whole circuit is a hellhole to reach and navigate around
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Apparently they tried to go after George Russell for driving down the wrong road or something. Seems to be a bit ridiculous.
Almost got Scottie schefflered?
I hope his pants were okay!
Oh really? That's an odd one...was he on a scooter doing that?
He did it in his pants on the grid walk. Per someone who knows a person that saw something odd in his stride.
Who knew that Canadian cops are so uptight! One would have thought it’s the American cops who don’t have an understanding regarding what justice means!
Quebec cops are a bunch of pricks
Montrealer here. Cops are pretty bad here and as someone that has lived in multiple provinces, I can say without a doubt that it isn’t a local issue.
Every city has the worst cops and the worst drivers. Literally everyone things where they are uniquely awful. But none.
Don't like the weather in X city? Wait 10 minutes.
There’s two seasons in X city: winter and construction.
Montreal Cops on GP Weekend ...... just no.
But if you want to call upon a police force to clear out a group of asshats occupying the national capital, you turn to the SQ.
[удалено]
All Cats Are Beautiful 😍
Not sure if this was sarcasm but Canadian police at their worst are just as bad the American police at their worst. The Saskatoon Freezing Deaths were fucking evil, and no one got properly punished for them.
> The Saskatoon Freezing Deaths were fucking evil, and no one got properly punished for them. The Wikipedia article on this has a fantastic section about censorship, as the Saskatoon police kept trying to [remove references to the article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatoon_freezing_deaths#Censorship_attempts) over the course of 4 years.
Jesus, just murdering people who are no threat to them. That’s fucked up.
Welcome to the history of Canadian genocide indigenous peoples since the founding of the nation.
That was a depressing wiki read
Quebec is different. In a lot of ways.
They can’t stop auto thefts here so they just go after cyclists
Buncha Dudley Do-Rights.
Candian cops are actually quite horrible on par with American and French police with their roots going back to the relocation of indigenous people If you are a native american woman you will be advised against seeking help from Canadian police
Cops will be cops.
The Mountie always gets his man!
Cops are cops wherever you go. Give them a uniform and a badge and they fully believe that gives them the authority to do as they please with people.
That's not true, we have a lot of great cops in my country. But we also require university training, psychological testing and a trial period before becoming a full policeman. The way you train your police will be reflected in how they act.
Yeah. I've lived in countries with great police (Norway, NL, UK), and countries with police you really, really worry about (Egypt, Jordan). Usually people making statements like "cops are cops wherever you go" haven't lived in a place where a cop can throw you in prison for two weeks - or as happened in the case of an acquaintance of mine, two years - for no reason with little or no recourse to get you out.
While I get your point that these countries don't compare, even countries like NL have issues in violence and racism with cops.
We're not contradicting each other. I never said that police in Western European countries are flawless (they very much aren't), but due to a combination of American discourse and a serious lack of understanding of how good most Western European police forces are compared to the rest of the world, people have a habit of blowing things way out of proportion. As part of my work I've worked with Dutch police and the amount of PVV voters among them is scary as fuck, but none of the non-white guys I've spoken to have said they're afraid the police is going to smack the shit out of them. It's more the endless non-random "random" selection that they're sick of.
That’s just not a true statement at all.
But this is Reddit where cops=nazis
All cops in Italy are fascists or sympathisers. Plenty of evidence everywhere.
remember it’s quebec cops, not canadian cops per say. they don’t think they’re canadian and we don’t rlly associate with them either 💀💀💀 good old quebeckers
And they didn't recognize Lewis Hamilton either in the paddock area, his entourage had to step in. This was on Friday morning. Even TSN's media people were having problems accessing the facilities, they're the host broadcaster, a total shit show.
Agreed 1000% Ever since they switched promoter since Covid it has gone downhill hard and fast. They need to dump this promoter.
They probably switched so that the promoter in 2020 could declare bankruptcy and keep all the ticket money they collected for a race that never happened. I spent $700 on tickets only to be told that F1 wasn't responsible, contact the promoter, who never answered a single communication from anyone.
Easiest chargeback of my life. Always buy tickets like this with a credit card if you can.
Further, use an Amex if you can.
Last time I bought tickets, Miami, they didn’t accept Amex
That makes sense. Amex typically sides with the cardholder.
Curious.. how come?
They support customers the best on charge queries like this
Amex is incredible. I’ve only had a few experiences where I’ve had to dispute charges but they’ve been quick, efficient, and to the point. I’ve also never encountered a wait time with customer service.
They carried over tickets to the following year. (Which was a pain because there were almost no tickets available to buy as a result) It’s around then that they switched. So would make sense.
Not mine, I've got an email chain going back months, they released a "limited number" and never notified anyone.
That's why it's best to buy tickets direct from the circuit/promoter. Formula 1 doesn't sell tickets or organize the event, the promoters do. I had tickets for 2020 and they rolled over into 2022 and it gave me the option to renew for 2023. The F1 ticket store is run by a third party agency based out of monaco, the platinum group. They are legit but they get to wash their hands when races get cancelled.
Kinda sounds like every promoter in history.
by their nature the are very fly by night operations. they put on one event a year and it's basically hosting someone else's event. And the goverement is backing it directly so that's helful
I'm disappointed that one of the best races of the season seems to have been a nightmare off-track. Photographer Kym Illman has made numerous posts highlighting fan frustration at the circuit, and mainstream F1 media have already made articles highlighting the disarray.
I'm not surprised in the least that our logistics were not up to standard. I would have been surprised if it went well. You got the Quebec/Montreal special
I went to last year’s race and was surprised how the simplest things weren’t taken care of. Example: They cram everyone through these cattle chutes that are dirt and at low depressions and guess what? It’s sometimes rains in Montreal. When it does you get these mud pits that are impossible to pass unless you were OK with getting mud up to your knees. My wife was already grumpy that she had to stand in long lines for the porta potty - not being able to get to the porta potty at all didn’t go down well. Eventually, they brought by a truck with a whole bunch of gravel, which made the area passable. Like why didn’t you guys do that before as a permanent measure?
Welcome to Canada. It’s pretty shit here, we just hide it well.
I was there this year and last year. While I think there’s room for improvement, I didn’t experience the issues others raised. Got in and out of the track relatively quickly on the metro given the amount of people. Police directed people firmly but politely in my experience. There was mud because of the rain, but came prepared with hiking shoes and it was fine. There was lots of off track fun activities. Loved the McLaren x Lego legos you got to build. Heineken terrace was a great place to relax. Lots of great food options, and not over priced. Though I wish they had more than just Heineken available as a beer option.
All the people that say the metro was easy, are generally sitting in the hairpin. I dobthe no rush to leave strat, and hang out for 1-2 hours then grab a taxi from the casino. That's fairly drama free. I hate standing in crowds and line so it's the best option for me. I also sit in GS12 and have a water taxi from behind my grand stand to the casino.
There were big crowds for the metro but the pace was relatively quick considering. We sat at Family GS and it was about 25 mins to get into the metro once we arrived there. Quali day was a touch longer since they had congestion from the people arriving at the same time for the Pitbull concert.
Apparently pitbull cancelled the concert like an hour before starting which is why there was a surge of people leaving
It was my first time at the Canadian GP and I was very satisfied with my experience. Granted, I got there early and stayed all day so I didn't experience the bridge closure or anything, so my perspective on the matter is definitely my own and not reflective of the overall experience, but I had an absolute blast. Loved the Monster Energy zone and getting to see the skate and FMX demos, and I felt everything was way more accessible than the USGP which I went to in 2022 (my first GP). I fully expected the wait to get into the Metro after quali/race day to be a lot worse than it was. I was very surprised at how efficient everything ran, but I am also from America so the concept of functioning and efficient public transit is a foreign concept to me. Eager to go back. However, I really do feel for the people who had to deal with the bridge closure and all the miscommunication. Sounds like there were many things I didn't see that needs to be addressed.
They had Sol, but kept running out
Phantom offering lol.
My wife and I went last year and went all three days and although yes, taking the metro back every day was a bit of a pain, we got home quicker than Austin the same year parking at the track and driving. We spent an hour in our car just sitting on a random side road to leave after the race just to witness someone get impatient and get t boned. I gladly took the wait for the train in Montreal over whatever Texas thought “traffic diversion” means.
Same thing for me. I am in Family Grandstand. We sit around for about 30 mins after the last event then go for the metro. There is a small crowd but it is not that bad, the metro is pretty efficient for the amount of people taking it. I heared people talk about the Friday debacle of police saying F1 is cancelled, but I was already on-site and at my GS we have not seen any chaos of all weekend.
I was happy about the food prices too. Going into the track, having heard about all the price gouging at races, I wasn't surprised to see things like an order of poutine for $15. It took a while for my stars-and-stripes self to remember that $1 CAD is about $0.75 USD.
That part in his most recent video showing them blocking off the view for the GA people in one spot an hour before the race makes my blood boil. Those people would have ran to those spots as soon as the track opened to get those views, and with no warning, the organizers closed it off. Had anyone known they were doing that, none of those people would have chosen that spot, but of course the organizers didn't think that far in advance. GA already kinda sucks for Montreal as it is, but that just seemed like an absolute slap in the face.
F1 usually forces the organizers to make changes if something fucks up and goes awry. But with a contract locked in until 2031, I wonder how motivated they will be.
It was one of the best because the rain caused chaos all weekend, not necessarily the track.
The track is fantastic, always has been. It's a significant part of it alongside circumstance including weather.
Montreal is always a great race
The track is one of the best in Formula 1. What are you on about?
"it was only good because of the circumstances that made it good" No offence but what point do you think you're making here?
The neverending f1 fans dilemma
Some F1 fans (including Sky commentators) can not function unless they are criticizing something about the sport. It's been this way since the start. So even if it was a fun exciting race weekend they will need to find something, anything, to grasp on to so they can let that bitchiness out.
Unless it's Silverstone, then we're just all supposed to enjoy the pure spectacle of the sport no matter the circumstances or logistics.
And don't forget, the UK fans in the stands are experts in the sport!
Just such a knowledgable F1 audience y'know?
I've heard a lot of complaints about a lot of Grand Prix recently. Apparently Monza was hell last year, but when I went in 2016 it was an absolute dream. I presume something's changed, either the organisation or maybe the popularity really is outgrowing the circuit facilities
I have to agree that the facilities were terrible in the paddock, with two men’s cubicles on a mobile toilet serving 3 teams. However, the team parking situation was a lot better and traffic management seemed to be an improvement
It’s been 5 years since I visited but, with all things considered, I thought the transport to and from the track and across the bridges was pretty well organised. It’s not an easy venue for massive sporting event. However the HUGE let down was that the portaloos ran out of water on the morning of the Sunday. The actual toilet blocks that had been open on the Friday and Saturday had been locked. We told one of the staff and they just shrugged, so we had to wash our hands in expensive bottled water. You wonder where the people making the food were cleaning their hands…
This year there was no water or hand sanitizer to be found anywhere. It was disgusting. The metro system was incredibly efficient though. We got on the train within 20 minutes even with a massive crowd leaving at the same time.
There was cold water dispensers under all the fidelity booths in the general admissions areas. I saw 4 booths myself walking around but there may have been more. longest wait I had was 5 minutes but often more around 30 seconds. EDIT: but as pointed out by u/TacoTenspeed , there was nothing to clean yourself at the portapottys. However, the urinal portapotty near grandstand 31 was overflowing by Sunday morning. People were just going on the perimeter fence.
I was referring to water for hand washing
Yes! That was disgusting.
This was the same problem last year in the Senna corner area. The sinks ran out of water on Friday and did not get refilled. I think on Saturday and Sunday they added some hand sanitizer stations instead but there was about a day with nothing at all. What a miss.
It was shocking that there was no infrastructure at all for it from what I saw. Not one hand wash station at any of the bathroom sites that I saw (which was a lot of them) and no hand sanitizer in the bathrooms either. I'm from Ontario and know that every event is required to have hand washing/sanitary options here. Not sure about Quebec, but it seemed like a massive oversight.
Total oversight, especially for how much they increased ticket prices over the past two years (but especially this year). I attended 2023 and 2022. In 2022 there weren't any water/sanitizer issues but we were still exiting the pandemic so it would have been harder to justify. By 2023 it was clear in our seating area nobody gave a fuck about maintaining the bathroom area. Sad to hear it was the same this year.
One easy fix is to reduce the number of tickets sold to say 250000 for the weekend versus the current 350000. Can see why they wouldn't want to do that but it would make it more enjoyable for everyone.
They might do it if they thought they could double the ticket price and sell them all as luxury VIP tickets with an extra 10cm width on your seat and fast track access to the merch stall.
[удалено]
And yet you will probably still have people coming in like the kids we dealt with beside us on Sunday trying to squeeze two people into one grandstand seat.
When I walked into my living room to watch the race, it was exact moment the security wasn’t going to let him through the pit walk. He’s holding a sky sports mic and has a camera man following him and the security was telling him no. Laughable
It’s an island in park thats not built for major sports events. Logistically it’s awful for F1.
It is an unfortunate truth There are 3 footbridges spanning the entire circuit for pedestrian traffic and those are frequented by event staff vehicles too The metro is one stop that on this weekend needs to service something like 150k people on Sunday To boot, the pit lane is physically limited by the edge of the island, hence why the team trucks are located away from the garages. It is a man made island, so maybe that could be an infrastructure project for the future. But I’d be hard pressed to imagine that Montreal citizens would be interested in using their tax dollars to widen a pitlane for 1 weekend each year And for all that, I hope they never leave it because (and I am biased as a Canadian) it is the most unique setting on the calendar. The cars accelerating out of T2 with the MTL skyline in the background is one of the prettiest camera angles in racing, and the track itself is stunning
Also find me another track that is placed within the city metro system its so close, but you don't need to close city streets for it. Its perfect because the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is basically still in Montreal, but it doesn't fuck up montreal traffic itself for 2 weeks before and after the race
It's a beautiful setting for an F1 race. One of the more unique and beautiful ones on the calendar. >I hope they never leave it We're good at least until 2031, that's how long the Canadian GP contract is with F1.
This is what I feel like people really don’t get. Perhaps the circuit should make it more clear but all 3 days of the GP I got from the circuit to McGill station in 45 minutes. The police in the station at the track were directing everyone on the platforms as much as they could. There’s ultimately only so much you can do about moving that many people off an island with 3 exits.
I agree, had no problems outside of waiting an extra 15 minutes Friday morning when the hail caused them to temp close the metro to the island for safety. Yes, it's absolutely packed, but I don't quite know what people expect otherwise.
Actually the Olympic rowing basin is the limiting factor. It’s a fairly niche sport (along with dragon boating and kayaking) and the rowing club loses money. Not unlikely that it gets purchased and paved over at some point.
I highly doubt they will pave over the lake. Canada is one of the bigger rowing Olympic countries (alongside UK, NZ, Germany, USA etc) especially as Hudson one of the most premium boat manufacturers being based in Canada. The lake itself would most likely be used for training or seat racing. In terms of facilities I highly agree, rowing/ water sports facilities are different in terms of volumes compared to F1. I maybe best to switch venues for F1 in Canada but personally I wouldn't want that to happen. It's one of my favourite tracks with a lot of history.
I think Montreal and Spa are the two most ascetically pleasing circuits on the calendar I was there this year, I love it there
They could make it much better though... Just by opening the access to Victoria Bridge you have entrance/exit on both sides of the circuit. Pretty much splitting the people in half. There's an underutilized train station 20 minutes from the same bridge that could be leveraged to bring people to downtown by using the commuter trains that pass there. They should include the cost of public transportation on the ticket and check it when you enter the island not when you leave. Every other person has a problem with the turnstile and delays the boarding... That cannot happen when you have 150k people trying to board the metro. The bag checks at the entrance were so bad that I don't really see the point... At least the line was short We need a solution for mud through the narrow paths...
The bag check was hilarious. Friday and Sunday, they barely looked in my bag - I had all the zippers open and everything. On Saturday, the person looked in every single compartment and smelled the water in my water bottle.
Another thing was people clogging up the lines into the Metro because they needed to buy their ticket to LEAVE the island. It was a real people being people moment. Not even considering how they got to the track in the first place, but knowing you're going to take the metro back and waiting til the end when everyone is trying to leave as the time to buy your ticket is just dumb thinking. I did find it odd that they had bag check on the first island prior to crossing the bridge that had about 6-8 lanes but then the other bridge that most people were using didn't do bag check till you crossed and it only had 2 lanes causing a massive backup of people. My partner and I took that bring on Friday, got onto the bridge around 1030, didn't thru bag check til about 1145. While the view is nice, it gets stale after about an hour and fifteen minutes of it.
One could say the same of Imola, for which there are only two bridges on the town side, but Imola works fine. It's just poor organisation from the municipality and the track.
I disagree. Any event has issues with handling massive crowds. Access points is just one of the things that you need to work on, but what also helps is organizing enough stuff that makes sure the crowd doesn't leave en masse once the race is over.
The year I went to Montreal there was a small concert after the race, it wasn't a lot but we figured better to hang out there for a bit to avoid the initial rush.
We went last year, it took less than 30 minutes to get to the metro directly after the race.
I’ve been going there for decades every year. It’s fine. It rained like hell, this sucks, who cares.
This year’s organization was atrocious compared to many previous years. Each day they fucked something up
They always say F1 has outgrown tracks where the races don't suck :-(
Facilities, not tracks, huge difference.
Well, ok let me rephrase, "They always say F1 has outgrown the facilities at tracks where the races don't suck"
Sure but they can be replaced. Spa did some work on the grandstands and everything so it's not the end of the wolrd fortunately.
I just miss Hockenheim y'know, I'm bitter.
Nuremberg GP is a great track as wellL Edit. nürburgring
I hope you mean Nürburgring and not Nuremberg. Nuremberg/Nürnberg does have a streetcourse([Norisring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norisring)) too but that one definitely is not fit for F1.
I desperately want to see modern F1 cars race around the norisring
#😬
Last GP there was a real trial
Lol, oops
Next up: second Dutch race in The Hague.
Nuremberg has never hosted F1 but it used to have the occasional rally.
Classic comment :)
I remember that, weren't they called the fastest regime or something
Its why all the teams love Abu Dhabi, they have acres of space each with fancy facilities.
Speaking of track facilities, does Spa have proper car parks? Each year I see people always parking and getting stuck in muddy fields. I remember in 2021 this guy towing cars with his tractor.
No, they mostly park in fields at Spa, like at many other tracks around the world.
Thanks for the answer. I guess it only becomes a problem when it rains.
Good thing it never rains in Belgium
I mean, this most traditional race tracks. When it rains, it gets super muddy. Montreal in comparison doesn’t even have much parking. It’s a park not a race track, so the few parking spots are just grass spots that happen to fit cars.
Melbourne has been decent the last couple of years, and handles 400k+ attendees. No parking either, just robust public transport.
Really? Monaco is the one you hear it most about
Canadians in the comment section all said that the police aggression, hostility and totalitarian attitude to both fans and George Russell was absolutely normal, standard practice for what they see and experience. Sounds like they've taken a leaf out from American police.
If anything Montreal police would've taken a page out of the French Police's book, who are also particularly nasty.
They’ve taken a leaf from “all police everywhere ever”.
Montreal cops however are notorious pricks. Some of the worst imo
Nonsense. The police where I live are perfectly fine. If anything, they’re too passive with certain things (e.g. traffic enforcement). I grew up in the US. I know what shit stains the cops there are. It’s definitely not the same everywhere.
Canadian Cops are bigger assholes, American Cops are more violent.
The differences between US and Canadian police are pretty minor. There's probably less legal protection for Cops who do stuff like kill people. That and there's not as many crazy weirdos in Canada IMO. Like the amount of Kyle Rittenhouse kids in Canada is way lower. Day to day normal cop stuff is probably pretty much the same. They pull from almost the same pool of applicants at least. I would say Canadian cops are probably much much better paid. but it's the same dudes from your high school who are cops.
Calling it now. 2026 the Canadian GP will be moving to the historic streets of Regina.
Ah yes....the classic historical Ring Road circuit.
A race around Wascana would actually be really nice.
The Montreal police should be ashamed of themselves. Somebody needs to pushed them to take up responsibilities for their own incompetent and hostile attitude.
Shame to have such an amazing race ruined by the police and security.
Honestly Protopodites was probably the real issue for most people. I fell like it's probably very hard to keep up with and it's a very unsexy problem for someone to care about prior to the event. (like you sign a contract for them, but not as much thought went into it)
"F1 has outgrown" is the problem here. Screw that attitude. An F1 is an outdoor event, not luxury resort. The variation in venues is what gives F1 flavor, it doesn't all need to be standardized luxury. Traditional events like Spa, Silverstone, Monza etc can get messy. So what? There's Monaco, Miami, Abu Dhabi etc on the other side. Sure, there's room for improvement. But if F1 outgrows a track for any other reason than safety, F1 is the problem.
If a track can't handle the size of crowd they are trying to cram into it, then that is on the promoter for selling more tickets than is reasonable. You don't need to chase every dollar. Sometimes selling less tickets for a better experience at a slightly higher price is actually the better move. When people report that the experience was great, the tickets can sell for even more the next year. When you sell too many tickets and people complain about the experience, the bad reports can make it harder to sell tickets in the future. But there lies the rub, if we want cheaper tickets, we need more of them, and more tickets means facilities will be overwhelmed.
The vast majority will always pick cheaper tickets over a better experience. People are extremely adaptable and resistant to change, they will always moan and rant about the organisation but they will be right back the following year. We have seen in the past how bad the ticket sales got when the equilibrium of price per entertainment was unbalanced, now that some more venues are trying to keep at least part of the tickets affordable and the entertainment on offer by the show is high the sales are better. The promoters see and realize this, they won't change just to experiment with things going against their own data.
Given the massive fees FOM charges for hosting a GP, the promoters have no choice but to keep raising ticket prices and try to cram as many people into the circuit as possible in order to hope to make a profit.
In response to a comment above, Monte Carlo is basically "an island park that not built for major sports events" and is "logicstically awful for F1" but I guess the money factor makes F1 overlook that... They're both kinda like my home track, Lime Rock Park: if someone were to propose building that track today we'd all say "eff that silly idea" and ridicule the idea and move on. But because of its history and legacy we look at it with admiration. Canada (and Monaco) are part of F1 history. So we tolerate - and enjoy - their foibles and differences. Unless you'd like more Tilke tracks...
i was there, had no issues other than when security yelled at us before fp1 when we were trying to use the grandstand as shelter from the hail and thunder (slightly understandable). though obviously i was not in the paddock, but logistically to me this beats COTA in a landslide
Ya, let's just replace it with another soulless track funded by oil money.
I'm sure that's what Brundle is being payed to promote.
They complained about the paddock, so they built a new and better one. They complained about the track, so they resurfaced it. They complained about runoffs and stuff, so they fixed that. You can't just expect a track to change completely overnight. These things take time and investments can't be done in a single year. You need to give them the chance to improve. At least with this track you see them making an effort and improving things. I have no doubt that the issues from last weekend, which have been exacerbated by the rain, will be taken care of. They have shown they are willing to invest.
They will continue to invest + they have a contract to 2031, so the race's future is safe for the near future.
This! There were numerous improvements this year based on pain points from last year, like adding artificial turf in the muddiest high traffic areas. No reason the believe they wont keep improving for next year.
I really liked that this year.
I noticed a lot of gravel added to the previously muddy hills
Right? They've consistently done everything that was asked of them; and having been nearly 20 times over the past many years; the event is still quite well-organized all things considered. This past weekend's event seems to have been an outlier in terms of what the experience was like.
Yea, turning fans away from free practice and meshing up the fence right before the race for some GA spots was beyond ridiculous. Canadian GP officials need to be ashamed and reprimanded.
The solution is to invest in upgrading facilities, not trash the track
FOM: I guess the only solution is to replace it with a Toronto street circuit
*street circuit in the Middle East
That’d never happen. The Toronto Indy is a much smaller venue with even fewer facilities. There is not going to be a massive influx of cash to make something like Miami happen here nor is FOM going to bank roll a race like they did in Vegas. For better or worse, this is the best and likely only potential F1 venue in Canada.
Fuck no
\**the horror*\*
Some insight from someone who was there and has been 6x to Montreal for the race: they did the best they could, and anyone who came unprepared for the weather really has to look in the mirror. If it rains in Montreal you need to bring a poncho and boots that can handle getting wet. This was a well attended race on an island - things will feel crowded in spots. If it’s not your thing it’s not something that can be changed.
Yup exactly this. Only gripe I have is with the cops telling people the day was canceled and to leave on Friday. I looked at the cop, laughed and said ok man. Then i went in line and got in in time for fp1. The rest was just normal Montreal GP shenanigans.
How long is F1s current contract with this track ?
2031
We go annually to the race but lately have been selling our tickets due to growing families, boring races etc. Last year was the first year we went since the pandemic began. I will say it rained probably more than this year on all 3 days except Sunday. I don't understand why they cant pave a few paths so its not a muddy, dirty mess getting to the grandstands if it's wet. The practice sessions used to be quite sparse, like good turnouts but not full. Now even fp1 is packed. The shuttles and bridges to the metro were absolutely rammed and at a standstill. They have a lot more track tours and track walks so the number of supporting races has decreased drastically, seems like a lot of downtime. The day ends much later because f1 moved up all the times so instead of getting to your hotel at 4-5pm you're getting there at 7-8pm on the Thurs-Sat. These are not deal breakers by any stretch for most people but personally for me is a bit too much.
It's a public park that gets used twice a year (at most) for racing. There's a reason there isn't paved paths/parking.
I mean other than the miscommunication of Friday when they were telling people the day is cancelled and to go home, which is terrible don't get me wrong, it wasn’t all that bad. Been going the last 12 years and it wasn’t really worse than any other years.
Are there any F1 races that aren't a "logistical mess"?
Yeah, but the racing is frequently brilliant. Take the weekend off if you don't like it Martin.
Multiple Montreal cops at the Metro station on Friday told my friends and I multiple times that the “whole day was cancelled” and to go home. After seeing nothing about that online we got out of the metro station through the entrance and got in line to get in the track and no surprise nothing was actually cancelled. On another note one way they could make the metro on the island far more efficient when people are exiting the venue would be to make it free at that station only. The turnstiles are a huge bottleneck with absolutely everyone having to tap the metro cards before going through and a lot of the trains leave half full. Fans would still have to pay for the metro to get to the event on all the days so they wouldn’t be losing much in revenue either.
It wasn’t that bad to be honest, yeah the rain didn’t help but the crowd knew what they were doing and at some points felt like a British festival which wasn’t the worst thing. The confusion on Friday about the island being evacuated or closed messed people up. The real issue was there was nothing to do there it was all BS. Race made up for it
Not that I don't think the GP couldn't be managed better, but my reaction to this of course was to wish Brundle would shut his fucking mouth because we all know the venue being outgrown would mean losing an amazing track with great history to yet another "state of the art" oil money/human rights violations funded, soulless track in the middle east.
Wow if F1 has "outgrown" Montreal what does that say about Monaco ?
Just Montreal Things
I hope they get this fixed for those affected, as long as the price isn't moving to yet another lifeless cookie cutter circuit at some North American parking lot just to facilitate the behind the scenes superficiality. If they can make it work in Monaco they can make it work anywhere.
All I’m hearing is Martin wants another street race. I’m seeing a big parking lot around Exhibition Place, BMO Field, and Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto that looks natural for a course if they stay in Canada rather than USA or a Middle East oil country. /s
they've even already installed the curbs!
Absolutely, I had police office try and break my group up while boarding the train after a 1.5 hr wait in the rain. And then when i mentioned to him we were all together he asked if we thought we were better than everyone else and then got in my face and asked me if i had a problem. I walked away from him and he kept saying stuff to me, physically shoved my gf trying to get to me, and then told me to walk away, to which I responded that I walked away and he followed me to this spot. Unreal experience, with the crowds and the transportation, you would think its the first time they host.
Welcome to *La belle Province*!
Sounds like you’ve had your run in with the bus and metro “police” (public security aka pubes) These guys are bigger assholes than the actual cops and have the biggest superiority complex on the island, even go as far as copying cop cars and logos and uniforms to make themselves look as intimidating as possible.
I agree. I went last year and it was the same. A muddy logistical mess. The train to and from the island is fine, but the wait is horrendous. In my opinion they should limit the fans attendance, remove half of the seating.
I've been the past 3 years and never went in the 2000s when the Montreal GP was also massively popular so I can't compare, but I will agree that this year was a lot slower moving with so many bottlenecks to get in and out. Took about 2 hours to leave from Grandstand 12 (Turn 1-2). 20 mins just to turn the corner from Grandstand 12 to 11 (Turn 2 to straight). At least an hour to turn the corner and enter Metro. Limited shelter from rain. If they just banned cars outside of staff, teams, shipping and emergency vehicles, then the vast majority of walking attendees can use the roads to walk in and out relieving a ton of the bottlenecks and providing more options to move. They also didn't allow people to walk the track back after race day which is new and added more bottlenecks. I bet the pedestrian to driver ratio is literally 5000:1 so you may as well just open up those arteries and create more pathways to access and exit the venue. That's my 2 cents. EDIT - Worth mentioning that the signs for all this were here 3 years ago. Bad port-a-potty placement, bottlenecks, mud, lines. Some of this stuff can be improved like moving port-a-potty off the walking paths. They also overflowed with piss by Sunday.
I attended with a child in a stroller. First ever grand-prix. Good thing we had the all-terrain stroller or else that mud would've made it impossible! Also, at one point we encountered a pedestrian bridge with 1000 people trying to cross it that was not accessible to us. We left the stroller attached to a picnic bench with a bike lock. Thankfully was still there hours later when we came back that way!
On track was great but a total shit show off track, getting into and out of the track and general police bullying across the entire weekend. If local authorities hate it so much, maybe they should move the race elsewhere. Add insult to injury, they’re raising ticket prices 10%+ next year
Sounds like this is an opportunity for Toronto..
Still was a crackin’ race though.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m from Montreal and have been going to the race for years but this years off track chaos made it feel like it was the cities first time hosting the race. All 3 days were an absolute nightmare when it came to leaving the event and it was also clear the cops and security had no idea what they were doing. An absolute shame and disgrace. The city is taking the event for granted right now
I think its a problem that is only getting worse by the year in terms of venues not being able to handle the growth of the media and crowd. I know a few who are not going to Spa because not only are the ticket prices high but the whole circuit is a hellhole to reach and navigate around