Book review - “F1 in Montreal” - From Villeneuve to Hamilton

Through the best images of sports photographer Bernard Brault, the book takes the reader back to the first edition of the race held in October 1978 that saw local hero, Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve win his maiden Formula 1 race in front of his fans.

Each chapter covers a specific era and is illustrated by some 30 stupendous photos, for a grand total of 300. Reading the book takes the reader back to the exploits of legendary drivers such as Gilles Villeneuve of course, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, not forgetting Jean Alesi who won his sole F1 race here in Montreal.

The hard covered book contains dozens of rarely seen photos of Brault and the texts and captions of Prieur recalls numerous stories, anecdotes and unknown facts about the 40 years of F1 racing on Ile Notre-Dame.

The full title of the book is: “F1 in Montreal - From Villeneuve to Hamilton, Through the lens of Bernard Brault”. Ross Brawn wrote the foreword and the book is offered in a bilingual format of both French and English. It is already on sale in the libraries.

The author, Normand Prieur has worked for more than 20 years with the organiser of the Canadian Grand Prix. He remains involved with the Montréal F1 race, as he’s the prime writer and special advisor of the promoter of the event.

Bernard Brault is one of the very rare – if not the only – photographer who has covered every Canadian Grand Prix since 1978. Working for the La Presse newspaper, Brault has also covered most Canadian professional sports as well as the summer and winter Olympics Games.