Canadian Grand Prix Winners: Every Montreal Race Measured
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Every Canadian Grand Prix winner, measured: 24 races at Montreal, and pole wins exactly half of them
Twenty four Canadian Grands Prix have been held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve since 2000, and exactly twelve were won from pole. Lewis Hamilton has won seven, more than anyone has won at any other circuit bar Silverstone. Every winner, grid slot and safety car, measured.
Twenty four Canadian Grands Prix have been run at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve since 2000. Exactly twelve were won from pole, and exactly twelve were not.
No circuit on the calendar splits so evenly. Montreal is a half-street, half-parkland lap with four heavy braking zones, almost no run-off, and a concrete wall on the exit of the last chicane that has ended enough races to earn a name. Pole matters here, and then something happens.
, with the audio and a transcript coloured by who is speaking. It is the first race of our 2026 coverage, and it was a wet one.
Every winner, 2000 to 2012
Year
Winner
Team
Started
Pole
2000
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
Pole
Schumacher
2001
Ralf Schumacher
Williams
2nd
M Schumacher
2002
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
2nd
Montoya
2003
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
3rd
R Schumacher
2004
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
6th
R Schumacher
2005
Kimi Raikkonen
McLaren
7th
Button
2006
Fernando Alonso
Renault
Pole
Alonso
2007
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
Pole
Hamilton
2008
Robert Kubica
BMW Sauber
2nd
Hamilton
2010
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
Pole
Hamilton
2011
Jenson Button
McLaren
7th
Vettel
2012
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
2nd
Vettel
No race was held in 2009. From official results via FastF1.
Every winner, 2013 to 2026
Year
Winner
Team
Started
Pole
2013
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
Pole
Vettel
2014
Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull
6th
Rosberg
2015
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
Pole
Hamilton
2016
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
Pole
Hamilton
2017
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
Pole
Hamilton
2018
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
Pole
Vettel
2019
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
2nd
Vettel
2022
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
Pole
Verstappen
2023
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
Pole
Verstappen
2024
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
2nd
Russell
2025
George Russell
Mercedes
Pole
Russell
2026
Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
2nd
Russell
No races were held in 2020 or 2021.
The numbers
12 of 24 races won from pole. An exact split, which no other circuit in this series manages.
Lewis Hamilton: 7 wins, in 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, which ties Michael Schumacher's Montreal record set between 1994 and 2004. Schumacher won four of the races in this set, Max Verstappen three and Sebastian Vettel two.
Hamilton's 2007 win here was the first of his career, the day after his first pole.
Lowest winning grid slot: 7th, twice. Kimi Raikkonen in 2005 and Jenson Button in 2011.
Mercedes have won 6, Ferrari 5, McLaren 5 and Red Bull 5.
Only three winners started outside the top three: Schumacher from sixth in 2004, Ricciardo from sixth in 2014, and the two seventh places above.
A safety car in 5 of the 7 races we have race control data for. Montreal's walls do the rest.
2011: the longest Grand Prix ever run
Jenson Button started seventh, finished first, and took four hours, four minutes and 39 seconds to do it. It is still the longest race in Formula 1 history.
The rain was heavy enough to suspend the race on lap 26, and it stayed suspended for more than two hours. Button pitted six times, collided with his own team mate and then with Fernando Alonso, and was last with thirty laps to go. He passed Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher for second on lap 65, and on the final lap Sebastian Vettel ran wide at Turn 6 and handed him the win.
He spent 2 minutes 21 seconds of that race stationary in the pit lane. Vitaly Petrov, fifth, spent 47 seconds. Button's average speed over the afternoon, red flag included, was about 46 mph.
His Montreal record splits cleanly in two. The first three came from pole in a McLaren, in 2007, 2010 and his unusual 2012 win from second. The next four came in the Mercedes era: three straight poles converted in 2015, 2016 and 2017, then 2019 from second when Vettel was given a five second penalty for rejoining unsafely and crossed the line first anyway.
George Russell took pole and led. Kimi Antonelli won. In between there was rain that never properly arrived, a Mercedes that stopped, and a team order.
Ferrari spent the middle of the race waiting for weather. Charles Leclerc wanted to know why:
"Can you at least tell me what the plan is? Like, what are we trying to do?" His engineer: "We're trying to wait for rain, mate. So to keep the track positioned and so if it rains, everyone has to stop, so we keep this position, you know?"
Lando Norris was running well when his engineer called him in for something that was not strategy:
"We need to box this lap. It's a reliability problem."
The two Mercedes then had a moment of their own. Antonelli was unhappy about how a place had been taken:
"Why made you push me off and I was ahead like what's the point?"
Russell was told the position would be handed back, and was not impressed with the timing:
"Convenient just before the freeze."
Russell's race ended with a battery failure while he was leading, which is measured in George Russell's 2026. Antonelli took the win from second on the grid, with Lewis Hamilton second for Ferrari and Max Verstappen third. It was the first of the eight wins that have put him 66 points clear in the 2026 standings.
Winners, grid positions, poles and finishers come from Formula 1's official results via FastF1.
Safety cars are counted from race control messages, which exist from 2018 onward. The five of seven figure covers 2018, 2019 and 2022 to 2026 only, and is not a claim about the twenty four races as a whole.
The 2011 race details are as widely reported, not from our own data.
Quotes are verbatim from our archive, and automatic transcription garbles some words.
Frequently asked questions
Who has won the most Canadian Grands Prix?
Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher share the record with seven each. Hamilton won his between 2007 and 2019, Schumacher his between 1994 and 2004.
Who won the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix?
Kimi Antonelli, from second on the grid, for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton was second and Max Verstappen third.
What is the longest Formula 1 race ever?
The 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, won by Jenson Button in four hours, four minutes and 39 seconds, including a red flag suspension of more than two hours.
How often does pole win in Montreal?
Twelve times in twenty four races since 2000, an exact half.
Sources
Winners, grid positions, poles, finishers and race control messages: Formula 1 timing data via FastF1
Every radio message quoted: our own team radio archive
Hear the next one as it happens
Montreal is the race where a wall, a shower or a battery decides it, and the first people to know are the drivers talking to their engineers.
The Formula Dream app plays live driver radio as it is broadcast, transcript beside the audio, and collects every FIA document of the weekend as the stewards publish it. There is also a live timing Dashboard, currently in beta.
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Charles LeclercFerrari · Canadian Grand Prix 2026 · Race · 13:00:22 local
DriverCan you at least tell me what the plan is? Like, what are we trying to do?
EngineerWe're trying to wait for rain, mate. So to keep the track positioned and so if it rains, everyone has to stop, so we keep this position, you know?
