Canadian GP promoters face stewards over track invasion

Shortly after the Montreal race, the stewards summoned the Octane Racing Group, which organises the event, noting in their statement that there had been a “spectator track invasion prior to the conclusion of the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix”.

The issue concerns spectators being released prematurely onto the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the cooldown lap – after the chequered flag had been waved but before all running cars had made it back to parc ferme.

Autosport understands it is not the first time fans have been admitted to the race course too early in recent years, so the FIA decided to firm up its response by formally summoning the Canada promoters over the recurring issue.

The Montreal race was attended by a record number of 350,000 spectators across the four-day event, up from 345,000 in 2023.

An entertaining wet-to-dry race was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who defeated McLaren driver Lando Norris and Mercedes man George Russell, who had started the race from pole.

Early track invasions are not uncommon in F1, with the Australian Grand Prix promoters also pulled up over problems at the 2023 edition where FIA’s security protocols were breached.

In addition to spectators invading the track while cars were still running, some fans also reached the stranded Haas of Nico Hulkenberg.

In response the Australian GP track invasion was banned for 2024, marking an end to a long-standing Melbourne tradition.

A similar situation occurred at the 2023 Brazilian Grand Prix, where fans broke onto the track at Turn 1 as the cars took the chequered flag.