With at least 300,000 spectators expected in the stands at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – last year there were 338,000 – the Canadian GP is the most popular sports event in the whole country. The track is on Notre-Dame Island which was artificially made in 1965 on the Saint Lawrence River when the Montreal underground railway was being built.
According to the Brembo engineers, it is one of the most demanding circuits for brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it is rated 4 on the difficulty index. The braking points which are very sharp and close together subject the brake system to a lot of stress with the brake discs and pads reaching very high temperatures which are fortunately reduced by a number of long straight sections which give the components a rest and allow them to cool down.