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Montreal, Canada 10 June 2001
Situated on the man made island of Ill Notre Dame on the St Lawrence river, just across from the beautiful city centre of Montreal, lies the high speed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Part of the track runs alongside the impressive Olympic rowing basin, with a footbridge across providing access to the Formula One paddock. This circuit is one of the best on the calendar for overtaking opportunities, with its flowing straights coupled with tight chicanes and a hairpin. The electric atmosphere in Montreal adds to the racing excitement, as the whole city becomes a Grand Prix carnival zone. The track is a part permanent, part street-circuit, so the surface is always quite dusty with a low grip level at the start of the weekend, although as more rubber is laid on the tarmac, a very smooth surface is formed. With long straights and tight chicanes, medium downforce is required to achieve high speeds on the straights, but sufficient grip for the corners.
Preview, 2001 Canadian Grand Prix
Situated on the man made island of Ill Notre Dame on the St Lawrence river, just across from the beautiful city centre of Montreal, lies the high speed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Part of the track runs alongside the impressive Olympic rowing basin, with a footbridge across providing access to the Formula One paddock. This circuit is one of the best on the calendar for overtaking opportunities, with its flowing straights coupled with tight chicanes and a hairpin.
Friday Practice, 2001 Canadian Grand Prix
Jarno Trulli set eighth fastest time but Heinz-Harald Frentzen's first day of practice ended abruptly when he spun into the barrier after establishing ninth quickest time for Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda.
"The session was pretty good," said Trulli. "We learned quite a bit but we are struggling to be quick in race conditions. We are having a few problems with the tyres blistering at the moment. I think we will be quick in qualifying but the signs so far are that it will be much harder in the race. We have worked hard today to find ways of sorting out the problem and we'll have to see if we have found a good solution."
Saturday Practice, 2001 Canadian Grand Prix
The second day of practice got off to a busy start for Benson and Hedges Jordan Grand Prix as the team prepared for a change of drivers.
Following his accident during practice yesterday, Heinz-Harald Frentzen has withdrawn from the remainder of the weekend, test and reserve driver, Ricardo Zonta, taking his place. Zonta was 15th fastest this morning, six places behind Jarno Trulli.
Qualifying, 2001 Canadian Grand Prix
Jarno Trulli qualified on the second row of the grid for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix. Ricardo Zonta, standing in for Heinz-Harald Frentzen, was 12th fastest at the end of a dramatic hour-long session.
Qualifying was stopped twice when Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) and Nick Heidfeld (Sauber) hit the wall at the exit of the final corner. Neither driver was hurt but wreckage was spread across the track on each occasion.
Sunday Warm-up, 2001 Canadian Grand Prix
An uneventful warmup for Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda as Ricardo Zonta and Jarno Trulli set third and seventh fastest times respectively during the 30 minute practice session.
"No problems at all," said Trevor Foster, Joint Managing Director, Jordan Grand Prix. "We spent the warm-up scrubbing tyres, it's easy to blister the tyres if you're not careful when they're new, and doing practice starts and generally getting ready for the race."
Race Results, 2001 Canadian Grand Prix
An exciting race with both Trulli and Zonta showing strong and faultless performances.
Trulli raced in the top six for the majority of the race but retired six laps from the finish with a brake hydraulic problem.
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