The unforgiving Circuit Gilles Villeneuve invariably throws up an eventful Grand Prix, but this one was something else again. On a day of appalling weather, the race started behind the safety car, and Bernd Maylander would take to the track on four further occasions before the afternoon was done. So overwhelming was the rain that, 45 minutes into the race, after 15 laps behind the safety car, it was decided to bring out the red flag.
Unquestionably it was the right thing to do, and the right time to do it. Soon the rain was ferocious, and it went on and on. By the time it eased, then finally stopped, the track was pretty well waterlogged. When the safety car led them away once more, for the restart, a little over two hours had elapsed since the halt.
As usual Vettel started from pole position, but on this occasion his margin of superiority was rather less than usual – less than a couple of tenths – and Fernando Alonso, on the front row of the grid for the first time this year, quite fancied his chances. “This was always going to be one of Ferrari’s best circuits,” he said, “because it doesn’t have any really fast corners, so our lack of downforce is less of a problem than usual…”
