O Canada, cry drivers, teams and followers

The sporting calendar seems incomplete without cars tearing away at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, writes Gary Meenaghan from Montreal.

Cars exit the second turn on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal during qualifying yesterday. The city, the circuit and the spectators make the Canadian Grand Prix special. Stan Honda / AFP

Not many people can boast that they got the better of Bernie Ecclestone, yet the organisers of the Canadian Grand Prix, were they so inclined, could do precisely that.

In 2008, when the time arrived to negotiate a new contract, Canada played the ultimate game of poker with Formula One's commercial rights owner. Initially at least, it appeared they had lost.

Their refusal to meet Ecclestone's demands saw the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve disappear from the F1 calendar for the first time since 1987, replaced by the inaugural Abu Dhabi race at Yas Marina Circuit.

However, such is the importance of Formula One maintaining a presence in North America that following the race's 12-month hiatus, Ecclestone returned to the negotiating table and Canada returned to the calendar - for a fraction of the price initially demanded.

Organisers, it unravelled, had considered the climate - a climate where the world was in the middle of a global recession and manufacturers such as Toyota and Honda were pulling out of motorsport - and haggled hard.

They negotiated the sport's supremo down from US$35 million to $15m per year (Dh128.5 to Dh55m) and were even able to include a clause allowing them to back out at any time should the sport's market standing drop below acceptable levels.

Compare such proceedings to the ongoing negotiations in Turkey, where the organisers of the race at Istanbul Park are being invoiced by Ecclestone for $26m - despite having paid $13m for the past six years - and Canada's contract appears shrewder still.

Yet the key difference is Canada can offer things Turkey cannot.

Canada can offer history, Canada can offer passion and Canada can offer exposure to a market viewed as crucial by the sport's 12 racing marques: North America.

The first Canadian Grand Prix was held in Mosport, north of Toronto, in 1967, but the first race in Montreal - in 1978 - was won by Gilles Villeneuve.

The Canadian driver's involvement in the sport was crucial to Formula One's growth in his home country and while he would later lend his name to Circuit Ile Notre-Dame, his presence in the paddock provided Canada with a sense of belonging and identity.

Here was a Canadian who started his career racing snow mobiles yet finished second in the world championship and died in 1982 during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. His son, Jacques, followed in his footsteps, but left a bigger mark on the sport, winning the drivers' title in 1997.

Robert Wickens, a 22-year-old Canadian who last week signed on to become Virgin Racing's reserve driver, said Villeneuve Jr's success had inspired his ambitions.

"My first year of karting in 1997 was Jacques Villeneuve's world championship-winning year," Wickens said.

"So that whole year I was watching every single race.

"Being Canadian, and with a Canadian about to win the world championship, it was hard not to watch. It was almost like the whole country almost shut down to watch him win the world championship."

Such history has captured a new generation of race fans, who appear to have chosen Formula One over North America's more popular racing series, Nascar, which debuted in Canada with its second tier Nationwide series in 2007 and drew an estimated 68,000 on race day.

This weekend's four-day event has attracted substantial crowds every day, including Thursday, a day that offers up no on-track action.

"Villeneuve was like a hero to Canadian guys like me," said Bradley Thomas, a 23 year old from Toronto, who has made the trip north in hope of witnessing McLaren-Mercedes derail Red Bull Racing's championship domination.

"I love Formula One. I mean, I like Nascar, but nothing compares to this. It's like the pinnacle of motorsport, you know?"

Such prestige is reciprocated by the sport's drivers. "The city is one of my favourite cities in the world," said Lewis Hamilton, the McLaren driver, who has the enviable record of having won here twice from three attempts.

"It's very cosmopolitan and just seems incredibly lively. And then you come to the circuit, which is on a tiny island, with great history. It's spectacular."

Drivers have a habit of speaking of their love for certain cities depending on their geographical surroundings - Hamilton showed similar adoration towards Turkey while in Istanbul last month - but it is, once again, the impassioned spectators that make Canada stand alone.

"You go to circuits sometimes where there are a couple of thousand people and the atmosphere is just nowhere," Hamilton said.

"But you come here and you immediately feel the huge buzz because you can see all these people in the crowd are passionate about motor racing."

And the passion appears contagious: in 2005, the Canadian Grand Prix was the third most watched sporting event globally, behind only the Super Bowl and the European Champions League final.

Such statistics will have surely resonated with Ecclestone as he reinstated Canada on to the calendar last year.