Formula 1: Canadian Grand Prix 2011 Preview, Practice, Qualifying and Race Times

Another weekend of Formula 1 2011 takes place between 10-12 June, as fans around the world tune in to witness 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.

Canada Grand Prix 2011 is the 7th round of the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship, and takes place on the man-made island of Île Notre-Dame in Montréal, Canada, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The track at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is known to be hard on both brakes and tyres – which have been a revelation in terms of excitement in 2011 – so expect tyre strategy to be key in this race. The primary cause for such hard wearing is the presence of two long, fast straights, and two hairpin bends on the circuit, which also contains the longest full-throttle section of track of any on the Formula One calendar.

This track should see some great returns for the KERS specialists, as a result. even more importantly, for overtaking excitement, there are two DRS activation zones per lap, which will seem likely to make a dramatic difference on such high-speed straights – but braking at the end of these fast passes may also see some high-drama, too, during race-day.

Red Bull Renault, who have seen last year’s champ, Sebastian Vettel, storm away to a 58 point lead over nearest rival Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, have had some issues with KERS activation this season, so they’ll be hoping for better this race, where straight line speed will provide a huge advantage.

The 2011 Canadian Grand Prix is set to be an ultra-exciting race, and is a truly inriguing prospect as a result of the tyre/KERS/DRS conundrum which has yet to really experience the unique set of cirumstances that Montreal’s street-like circuit provides.

Highlighting this pre-race weekend, Charlie Whiting, race director, said:

“The Canadian Grand Prix is traditionally a very exciting race and one that is probably above average in terms of incidents, which always keeps everybody working at the race very focused.

Formula 1 2011 Canadian Grand Prix Key Stats

• Pirelli, the Formula 1 tyre manufacturer, bring the same selection of tyres for this track as for last race weekend, at Monaco: teams are offered Super-Soft (red stripe) and Soft (yellow stripe) tyres for the Canadian Grand Prix 2011;
• Rubens Barrichello holds the lap record at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – set in 2004 for Ferrari – a time of 1:13.622;
• Île Notre-Dame, upon which the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is built, was built for Canada’s Expo 1967 from 15 million
  tons of rock extracted during Montréal Metro excavations;
• Three venues have hosted the Canadian GP: Mosport (1967, 1969, 1971-77); Mont-Tremblant (1968, 1970) and Montréal (1978-2010,excluding 1987 and 2009);
• The track was named after Canadian Grand Prix driver, Gilles Villeneuve following his death in 1982;
• Sebastian Vettel goes into Canada Grand Prix having won eight of the previous nine Formula One Grands Prix – he is only seven points short of the maximum possible points tally for the 2011 season thus far;
• Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is the only North American F1 stop in 2011.

Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix 2011 – Event Start Times 10-12 June 2011

The following times are scheduled for the FIA Formula 1 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, time is displayed in local time and Central European Time (CET) – please adjust for your time zone.