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."

Trulli to wear pink helmet in Canada

Jarno Trulli will swap his usual chrome helmet for a special pink design for the Canadian grand prix.

The Italian driver witnessed his lifelong friend Danilo di Luca win the recent Giro d’Italia cycling race, and Trulli will honour the victory by copying the colour of his riding gear and helmet.

Like Toyota’s Trulli, di Luca is also from Pescara, a small city in central Italy, according to the report in the sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Red Bull fits new rear wings for Canada

Both of Austrian energy drink Red Bull’s formula one teams will race new rear wings at the Canadian grand prix.

Many outfits, including Ferrari and Toyota, intend to debut new bodywork on the low-downforce Montreal layout this weekend, but the Red Bull news is particularly noteworthy in the context of the similarly new FIA deflection tests.

We first reported late last month that the intensified scrutineering tests, to be conducted for the first time in Canada, were a reaction to evidence that suggested the Red Bull wings were flexing illegally at high speed in Spain.

The team technical boss, Adrian Newey, confirmed in a press document this week that the RB3 will be fitted with a “smaller rear wing” in Canada.

Hamilton factor may help Canada GP sellout

The Canadian grand prix this weekend could be heading for a sellout — thanks to Lewis Hamilton.

Montreal’s always-buzzing Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will be missing two usual drawcards in 2007, following the retirement of Michael Schumacher and local hero Jacques Villeneuve’s formula one exit.

Canada’s National Post reports that the event is not sold out, “but (it) could be by the end of the week, depending on an anticipated rush for general-admission tickets”.

The ‘rush’ is expected due to a late marketing campaign centred around the success of British McLaren rookie Hamilton, who has scored as many points so far in 2007 as his world champion teammate Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton ready for Canada

Lewis Hamilton is aiming to build on a 'dream result' scored at the Monaco GP when he takes part in his very first Canadian Grand Prix next weekend.


The Montreal race is the first in a double-header of transatlantic races in the coming fortnight, with the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis set to follow a week later.

Both will be breaking new ground for the young Briton, but with five podium finishes from his maiden five outings in the top flight, Hamilton has shown that he is anything but a slow learner.

Hamilton looks ahead to Canada

Lewis Hamilton has declared his second-placed finish in Monaco a "dream result", but has now turned his focus to the Canadian Grand Prix.

The young Briton finished behind team-mate Fernando Alonso in Monte Carlo and admits he was satisfied with the race, despite his initial disappointment.

And he is now looking ahead to the Canadian Grand Prix next weekend as he bids for his maiden race win.