The sixth round of the 1995 Formula One World Championship saw teams and drivers move from the slow and compact Monaco Circuit to the fast-flowing Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Ile Notre-Dame, much like how they do nowadays. Heading into the race, reigning World Champion Michael Schumacher of Benetton was leading arch rival Damon Hill of Williams by five points. The paddock was two cars short as the popular Simtek team withdrew from Formula One, leaving both Domenico Schiattarella and Jos Verstappen without a drive for the rest of the season. The former would never drive in F1 again. Benetton and Williams had won every single race that season with their leading drivers Schumacher and Hill, taking three and two wins respectively. Their teammates, Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill respectively, along with the two Ferrari drivers of veteran Gehard Berger and Jean Alesi were the only other drivers to achieve a podium finish up to that point.
The Montreal circuit of 1995 is notably different to the modern-day layout, with more sweeping corners and the chicanes being generally slower. The famous Wall of Champions had yet to be founded also. Heading into the race, the drivers were unhappy with the bumpiness of the circuit. Michael Schumacher achieved the 100th pole position for Renault in qualifying, ahead of Hill and Coulthard. Berger was a fine fourth for Ferrari ahead of Alesi and Herbert. Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren qualified ahead of the Jordans of Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello and Mark Blundell in the other McLaren. The Fortis driven by Roberto Moreno and Pedro Diniz closed out the reduced field in qualifying. With only 24 cars, every car entered qualified for the race. The warm-up session was held in wet conditions but the race was completely dry.
So heading into the race, it was expected to be the Hill and Schumacher show yet again. They both started well with the top six cars maintaining position. Heading into the hairpin, Hakkinen tried a lunge on Herbert which resulted only in ruining both their races; especially Hakkinen’s who was out, although it looked as if the British driver was more at fault. Not long into the race, Coulthard spun whilst braking on a damp part of the circuit and beached his Williams. At the same time, Alesi passed teammate Berger into third place. On lap 17 he tried a lunge on Damon Hill in the same place that Hakkinen tried one and brilliantly pulled it off to go into second position. Eventually, Berger made his way past the Williams in a similar forceful style to his teammate with just as much flair, as the Tifosi love to see from the red cars.
Lap 34 saw Alesi and Hill pit for very lengthy stops, to fill up with fuel. One lap later, Berger was coasting, as he ran out of fuel on the straight before the pit lane. The famous Ferrari V12 was also very thirsty and it cost the Scuderia once again. He brought the car back though, and managed to keep going, but lost a lot of time. Schumacher stayed out until lap 38 for his one stop, and was out much quicker than any of his rivals. Over the next 10 laps, both Ukyo Katayama and Blundell suffered engine trouble and were both out of the race as the attrition became quite high. On lap 50, Hill suffered a gearbox problem and was out of the motor race, which was fantastic news for Schumacher. However, the German also suffered a gearbox problem just 8 laps earlier. He returned to the pits, they reprogrammed it and he was off once again, albeit in seventh. Alesi now led the race on his 31st birthday. With 61 laps of the scheduled 69 laps gone, a battle developing between Berger and the Ligier of Martin Brundle came to a conclusion when they collided and ended in the gravel, putting both out.
Jean Alesi crossed the finish line for the 69th and last time to claim a historic win for Ferrari in a tough race ahead of the two Jordans, claiming their best result to date. Ferrari are hugely popular in Canada as local hero Gilles Villeneuve claimed his first win there in 1978 driving for Ferrari, and now Alesi done the same thing. The crowd broke onto the circuit and all cars were told to stop immediately, which as per regulations meant results went back to the 68th lap. Olivier Panis finished 4th for Ligier ahead of the recovering Schumacher and Gianni Morbidelli collecting a good point for the Footwork team. Mika Salo, Luca Badoer and Taki Inoue were the only other classified finishers.
This moved Alesi into 3rd in the World Championship standings as Schumacher extended his lead as Hill failed to finish. Ferrari was also now top of the Constructors’ standings following that win. That race turned out to be the only race not won by a Benetton or a Williams that year, as was the case the year previous when Gehard Berger won the German Grand Prix.
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