Canadian Grand Prix signs Formula One contract extension through 2035
Event CEO confident about event's future after successful weekend race in Montreal
The Canadian Grand Prix is staying on the Formula One calendar until at least 2035.
Octane Racing Group, the Canadian GP promoter, and several government officials announced a four-year contract extension on Tuesday.
The race was previously under contract through 2031. An agreement signed until 2029 was extended two years after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the 2020 and 2021 editions.
"The Grand Prix is part of the summer events in Montreal," Mayor Valérie Plante said. "It actually starts the tourist season, the festival season as well, so to know that for the next 10 years it is secured, it is fantastic news."
Plante joined Octane Racing Group president and CEO Jean-Philippe Paradis, Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx and federal MP Carlos Leitão in a news conference on Île Notre-Dame, the site of the track, on Tuesday.
Tourisme Montréal president and CEO Yves Lalumière and Société du parc Jean-Drapeau executive director Véronique Doucet were also on hand for the announcement.
The officials pledged $117 million over four years as part of the contract with F1 owners Liberty Media.
The federal government will put in $39.2 million, the province $31.1 million and the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau $7.8 million, including $1.7 million directly from the city.
Tourisme Montréal, funded by private sources and all three levels of government, will contribute $39 million.
'Win-win formula'
Grand Prix weekend provides a major economic boon to Montreal. An announced 352,000 spectators attended this year's event over three days.
"The economic returns are far bigger than the investments from three levels of government, so it's a win-win formula," Leitão said.
Lalumière said Tourisme Montréal projects nearly $1 billion in tourist spending over the extension's four years, adjusted for inflation. Plante later said this past race weekend alone brought in about $100 million in economic returns, though official numbers have not yet been released.
Lalumière said the city's hotels were 90 per cent full last weekend, and that 55 per cent of Grand Prix attendees came from outside Montreal.
The extension landed after a well-received Grand Prix weekend, a much-needed win for organizers after last year's fiasco sparked speculation about whether Montreal would stay on the F1 calendar.
Congestion, flooding and ill-timed downtown patio inspections disrupted the 2024 edition and damaged the race's reputation.
Next year's Canadian GP is scheduled for May 24, moving back from its traditional June slot to reduce travel and environmental impact. The event will now take place following the Miami Grand Prix instead of being sandwiched between races in Europe.
Questioned about how the schedule change will impact tourism revenue, Plante said the earlier slot is a positive.
"We will start [patios] and people will start to celebrate even earlier next year," she said.
The Canadian GP, set for its 55th edition next year, joined F1 in 1967 and first staged races in Bowmanville, Ont., and Mont-Tremblant, Que.
Race has 'global audience'
The event moved to Montreal in 1978, and hometown hero Gilles Villeneuve won the city's inaugural race. Initially called Circuit Île Notre-Dame, the track was renamed to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after the local icon's untimely death in 1982.
The Canadian GP gained significance as the only North American race on the F1 calendar for several years in the 1990s and 2000s. There are currently three stops in the United States and one in Mexico City.
"This is one of the few events organized in Canada that has a global audience," Leitão said. "Everybody around the world takes note of Montreal, of Quebec, of Canada, but it's extremely important for us to capitalize on these kinds of events."
Grand Prix weekend provides a major economic boon to Montreal. An announced 352,000 spectators attended this year's event over three days.
Paradis took over as chief executive officer and president of Octane Racing Group after longtime executive François Dumontier stepped down last summer following 30 years on the job.
On Monday, Paradis said organizers didn't feel added pressure to deliver at this year's Canadian GP but acknowledged his team was eager to make the Formula One event shine.
"There was something where people wanted to make it different. We want to bring Canada to a top quartile GP," he said. "There's a path for us to get there, and we wanted to showcase that there is some improvement."
Paradis noted that event organizers rolled out the first phase of a three-year plan this year.
Recreating feel of downtown street festival
Hospitality tents for F1 teams doubled in size and now include a second floor. The entire paddock area was redesigned to also feature a Canadian touch.
Paradis wants to recreate the feel of a downtown Montreal street festival in the paddocks for F1 personnel and VIP guests.
Teams were also able to enter the site via the previously inaccessible Victoria Bridge, avoiding the traffic that disrupted 2024 and previous years.
Paradis hopes this year's race will serve as a springboard to making the Canadian GP one of the most beloved stops on the F1 calendar.
Paradis also said a scheduling conflict with the Indianapolis 500 won't reduce the number of American tourists coming to the event.
He expressed the same confidence despite the growing number of Grand Prix races in the United States — now at three since Las Vegas was added in 2023 — when Montreal used to be the only North American stop.
"Canada is a huge market, right? It's 40 million people," he said. "There's obviously a huge economic market. We serve really well the Northeast of North America. It's an iconic race.
"I'm personally waking up every day to make sure that we have a top race, and this race stays here for the next 100 years."
