Williams announced that Canadian racing driver, Lance Stroll, would be joining the team alongside Valtteri Bottas for 2017. This will put him on the very short list of Canadian Formula One drivers and will give Canada their first national driver in a decade. To celebrate the return of a Canadian driver to the grid, lets look at the other four long-term Canadian drivers.
George Eaton was a member of the well-known Eaton family which owned Eaton’s department stores. Besides serving at the president of the store chain, Eaton also enjoyed racing. He first entered Formula One in 1969 with BRM for the United States and Mexican Grand Prix. He failed to complete either race, suffering mechanical failures.
He started the 1970 Formula One season, but failed to complete the first race and didn’t even qualify for the next two races. After missing the Belgian Grand Prix, he returned to the sport in the Netherlands, but again suffered a mechanical failure. He completed his first race in France, finishing P12. He finished two other races in that season, with a P10 finish in Canada, which would be his best career finish. In 1971, he only raced the Canadian Grand Prix. He retired from racing in 1972.
Gilles Villeneuve was a legendary driver, although he never won the World Drivers’ Championship title. He made his Formula One debut with McLaren at the 1977 British Grand Prix. His drive impressed and he was offered a position on Ferrari to drive Niki Lauda’s car for the final two races of the 1977 season and the 1978 season. Despite a series of retirements in 1978, Villeneuve managed to score his first career victory and only home Grand Prix victory at the final race of the season.
He remained with Ferrari for the rest of his Formula One career. He narrowly lost the World Drivers’ Championship title in 1979 by only four points, despite having scored three race victories and four other podium finishes that season. The following season didn’t convert into any victories or podiums for the Canadian. He won in Monaco and Spain in 1981, but only finished seventh in the championship. 1982 started badly, with two retirements and having been disqualified for an illegal rear wing in Long Beach. His luck turned around when he scored a P2 finish at the San Marino Grand Prix. However, this would be his final race, as he would suffer a fatal accident during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. The Île Notre-Dame Circuit was renamed the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in his memory.
Allen Berg, a Vancouver born driver, made his way up the ranks. He competed against Ayrton Senna and Martin Brundle in the British Formula 3 series in 1983. He began his search for Formula One funding in 1985, managing to join the 1986 grid part way through the season to replace Christian Danner on the low-budget Osella team. The car was slow and consistently qualified at the back of the field. Reliability wasn’t all that great either, as he retired from five races, with only one having been for an accident.
When the 1987 season rolled around, the backers that had previously agreed to fund Berg’s ’87 season had disappeared. Berg was unable to earn a Formula One seat that season, ending his Formula One career after only nine races, with a highest finish of P12. He moved his career to tin-top cars such as DTM before retiring from driving and moving to team management. He currently operates Allen Berg Racing Schools.
The son of Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques has participated in a diverse racing career. He found his way to Formula One in 1996, earning the pole position, fastest lap and a second place finish in his debut race. He was able to score eleven podium finishes in his debut season, four of which were victories, and was able to finish the championship runner up. The following season was better for him, as he was able to win his only World Drivers’ Championship title. It was all downhill from there.
He bailed from Williams after 1998, moving to BAR Honda. He remained with the team for five seasons with little success. He found himself without a racing season for the 2004 seat and was forced to sit out the season. However, he was invited to Renault to replace Jarno Trulli for the final three races of the season. In 2005, he moved to Sauber where he stayed for two seasons before putting an end to his Formula One career. He has competed in many different racing categories including NASCAR, IndyCar, Le Mans, the World Rallycross Championship and Formula-E.
