Canadian Grand Prix Information Continued
The Canadian Grand Prix (known in its native French as the Grand Prix du Canada) is a Formula One auto race held in Canada since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario and alternated between Mosport and Mont Tremblant near Saint-Jovite, Quebec until 1971 when safety concerns lead to the Grand Prix moving permanently to Mosport. In 1978 the Canadian Grand Prix moved to its current home on Ile Notre-Dame in Montreal.
The first winner in Montreal was Quebec native Gilles Villeneuve who died in 1982 on the final qualifying lap for the Belgian Grand Prix. A few weeks after his death, the race course in Montreal was named Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after him.
The 1982 Canadian Grand Prix, already dreary because of the death of Villeneuve a month earlier, saw another horrific accident when Villeneuve's teammate Didier Pironi stalled on the grid. Raul Boesel clipped the stationary car, and Riccardo Paletti then slammed into the back of Pironi's Ferrari. Pironi and F1 doctor Sid Watkins came to Paletti's aid to try to extract him from his car, which briefly caught fire. After a half hour, Paletti was extracted and flown to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries.
