Where Monaco has popularity going for it but a race track that fails to deliver in terms of spectacular racing, Montreal manages to combine both attributes to great effect. The atmosphere is always great, the conditions often changeable, the circuit challenging for drivers, the racing exciting, and a general feeling of goodwill washes over everyone watching. Let's hope 2017's race can just add to that great feeling.

Event schedule

Mercedes were on the back foot in Monaco, and that allowed both Ferrari drivers to sweep a 1-2 victory. Vettel extended his championship lead and the Scuderia snatched the team standings top spot from their rivals as well. The battle is really on at this crucial point in the season, because the momentum could quite easily swing one way or the other, and what we really want is for it all to remain on a knife-edge as the season continues.

Lance Stroll will celebrate his home race this weekend, but he doesn't have a huge amount else to celebrate. He's been hounded by the media as anyone who is underperforming in the beloved Williams would, but it does seem like he needs to start showing just what it is that has carried him into F1 above and beyond his backers.

I'm also keen to keep an eye on Force India, who are so far doing an incredible job this season with keeping their cars competitive and in the points. Can they keep it up? And, of course, Fernando Alonso returns to the McLaren after his Indy stint, will he have learned some new tricks?

Support racing for this event includes Ferrari Challenge, Porsche Cup, Formula Tour 1600 and Masters Historic Racing.

Expected conditions

As you might imagine, heading into the Montreal weekend, the weather forecasts are suggesting rain and clouds, with just the occasional appearance of the sun at intervals. Temperatures are reasonable, but if the rain kicks in then it won't really matter - we'll be seeing the blue and green Pirelli tyres anyway.

Circuit history

All but ten of the 47 Canadian F1 races have been held at the Montreal circuit, and this year will host the 48th. Several of the current crop of racers have experienced victory around the Gilles Villeneuve track, but only Lewis Hamilton has won more than once. The Mercedes driver has five Montreal top step trophies and is closing in on the record set by Michael Schumacher of seven.

The track is renowned for chaos and so pole position isn’t as crucial as it is elsewhere – 17 of the 37 Montreal races have been won by the polesitter. The high speed nature of the circuit should favour those with better engines, although there are a handful of heavy braking zones as well, so lookout for brake wear being a factor as well.

Meanwhile, the track has had a few minor changes to it for the 2017 event, with refreshed guardrail, walls and catch fencing where the previous security measures were starting to get old. There’s new asphalt at turn eight which replaces a gravel run-off, whilst improved barriers and marshal access have also been installed at many of the corners.

Tyre compounds

For the second race weekend in a row, Pirelli are bringing the softest three compounds to the track - but we're expecting more pit stops during the race this time out. The track tends to evolve quickly as the weekend develops, and there are plenty of support races to help add grip to the surface.

Pirelli's head of car racing, Mario Isola, says: "Finding the right set-up, with the correct aerodynamic and mechanical balance, is never easy in Montreal: this is one of the key factors to making the tyres work effectively there. It's also important to take an openminded approach to strategy, given the variable weather and safety cars that are historically possible."

Selected tyre sets per driver

Lewis Hamilton	1	4	8
Valtteri Bottas	2	3	8
Daniel Ricciardo	1	5	7
Max Verstappen	1	5	7
Sebastian Vettel	1	3	9
Kimi Räikkönen	1	3	9
Sergio Pérez	2	3	8
Esteban Ocon	2	3	8
Felipe Massa	2	4	7
Lance Stroll	1	5	7
Fernando Alonso	1	2	10
Stoffel Vandoorne	2	1	10
Carlos Sainz	2	3	8
Daniil Kvyat	2	3	8
Romain Grosjean	1	5	7
Kevin Magnussen	2	4	7
Nico Hülkenberg	2	4	7
Jolyon Palmer	2	4	7
Pascal Wehrlein	3	3	7
Marcus Ericsson	2	4	7

Press conference schedule

Official press conferences are organised by the FIA and happen four times during the weekend. The qualifying and post race press conferences will take place after the television unilateral interviews.

Race stewards

The FIA stewarding process includes a former F1 driver to offer added insight. These stewards are overseeing the weekend's action.