Young Canadian drivers hoping to replace Jacques Villeneuve

There may be no Jacques Villeneuve or any other Canadians in this year's Canadian Grand Prix, but there is no shortage of young talented drivers in Canada as a look at the Formula BMW USA series will show.

Daniel Morad, Jeffrey Petriello, Yannick Hoffman, Philip Major and Maxime Pelletier are some of the promising talents in the Formula BMW USA series who come from Canada.

"North America doesn't really have a strong formula car presence. It's more sports cars and NASCAR, basically," Morad said. "But it's going to be difficult. Not a lot of people respect North Americans as race car drivers, so you really have to go over to Europe and perform. You have to show people what you have so they respect you."

Of course, drivers need sponsors willing to foot the bill for them to compete in Europe and Petriello said that is actually the biggest challenge for a Canadian driver.

"To replace Jacques Villeneuve in Formula One will be tough," he said. "It's always a question of sponsors. It's the driver who shows up at the right time and knows the right people who will be able to break through."