Thinking about going this June. Any experience with the course/grandstands and recommendations of where to try to sit? Particularly interested in where any diamondvision/video screens are located that can be viewed from the grandstands. Thanks in advance for any tips from those who have been there! JC
Hairpin if you can still get them. L'Epingle I think they call it. If not there I like being up at Senna.
Go ask this same question in the F1 thread in Racing. Greg is Canadian and goes every year, he'll fill you in with whatever info you need.
Greg's been once. I'm going this year for the first time. Greg was on the hairpin but we are going to be a couple stands over from there - biggest issue for us was you couldn't buy a grandstand ticket for just the Sunday (you have to buy it for the 3 days) and there's 4 of us so cost came into it. We bought the tickets direct and did the accomodation ourselves - this was cheaper than buying one of the packages the advertise on the F1 site.
Anywhere on the island is a good time...I do prefer the hairpin myself, but you usually have to buy early to get those seats or I would imagine pay through the nose for them as they are popular seats. When I have gone with those seats we have gotten tickets the first day on sale, so I do not really know later timing. The hiatus may have changed that too. When we made a late decision one year in March, they were all gone so I know that. You should still be able to see plenty of the action from there, as long as you remember the helmet schemes and have better eyes than me. Oh that's right, you are looking for the yellow one, that I can see.
I went back in 86 or 87 I think and had a blast. Took the train up.... I prefer to walk, sit, watch, walk, hang out, watch, repeat... Always walking opposite direction of cars so you always see them coming towards you... There are sport of the track you cannot get to, but most of it was accessible. I rather watch from several vantage points than sit and see the same corner for a hour of not much passing style of racing.... Just my opinion....
+1 I used to do this in the late 80's early 90's. General admission tickets were cheapest and best back then. You could go sit in the hairpin. I have not been back since. I no longer live on the island and find it a hassel to travel or get a room. All the rooms are booked way in advance so look into that as soon as possible. Expect to pay through the nose for the week end. You will get your moneys worth though. The street parties and the montreal women are the greatest!
Hmmmmm....one of those......racers... Walking....I do that at Watkins Glen, because it is really nice there...With the jumbo-trons now, you will see more than walking around. Just saying..it is like being there and being home with the big screen at the same time.....you might get lucky and timing puts you in a good spot to see something. Hard to beat the camera crews though. Things are way different than even 5 years ago now, say nothing of almost 30. I always find I am watching the track and not the JT's though myself. When everyone around me starts pattering I take a look at it. YMMV, and probably will. Why they have options....there is that darn tyre talk again.
I would say to get a seat by the TV Screens, walking around there kinda sucks as GA people camp out in the best areas. I've been 4 times - I think, '88 Senna won Saw Ralf win And went in '10, I think Hamilton won - sat when they came out of hairpin, but could see all of it. F1 w/e is the biggest/ best in Montreal. We rented a condo from a woman on the south side of the city very cheap > the Metro is easy & best to use. Pics from 88 Grid Michele Alboreto SENNA da Man
We went to Montreal last year (first time). We try and do some kind of a race every year. we did Moto GP in Indy one year and Superbikes at Miller another. Last year was f1 in Montreal. We got grandstand seats at the hairpin with good access to the jumbo-tron & also the beer stand The other racing venues we have been to are pretty "pedestrian friendly", you can walk around the track & see the racing from different viewpoints. Indy is especially good for this with grassy infield hills. Montreal, we found, wasn't a good track for this. It's more of a park-like setting and the track views are more limited. That being said, we still had a great time. Best part of F1 in Montreal is of course MONTREAL! Fantastic cosmopolitan city with plenty to do at night. the old city is great to walk around, eat & drink. There are also several street carnivals & concerts going on. Track access is very easy on the metro, so no need to worry about parking or any of that drama. Massa at the hairpin on Webber JB not feeling it in 2012 and POUTINE!!
went in 2010 and 2011 this year went to austin We like turn 2 (senna) - you can see start finish, get a good view of a monitor and get to see some good action like others have said - montreal is a great city, the metro works well, but still be prepared to walk a lot also be prepared to pay about 3x normal rates for a hotel, but still if austin didn't get a race, I would have been back in 2012