Stu Cowan: Father's Day trip in fast lane for London, Ont., F1 fans (2024)

A Father’s Day weekend trip to the Canadian Grand Prix got off to a bumpy start for Don Ross and his three sons Thursday morning.

“We accidentally bought bus tickets instead of subway tickets,” Brad Ross said at 8:30 a.m. after taking the métro from Longueuil to the Jean Drapeau station with his father and two brothers, arriving 30 minutes before the open Pit Lane Walk was scheduled to start at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.

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The Ross family is from London, Ont., and Brad and his brothers — Mike and Adam — decided to make their first trip to Montreal with their father to attend the Grand Prix. They had originally planned the trip two years ago, but the last two Canadian Grand Prix races were cancelled because of COVID-19.

Thursday’s Pit Lane Walk was the first official event at the track this year, allowing fans to walk past the pits and watch as mechanics and engineers were putting the Formula One cars together ahead of two practice sessions Friday (1:45 p.m., RDS; 4:55 p.m., TSN4, RDS) when action begins on the track. There will be a third practice session Saturday afternoon, along with the qualifying session for Sunday’s race, which starts at 2 p.m.

After navigating a language barrier with the métro worker in the Longueuil station ticket booth, the Ross family was able to purchase the correct tickets and make their way to the track.

“We’ll end up using the bus tickets, so it will all work out,” Brad said with a smile and a chuckle. “The growing pains … we did all this on Thursday, so it’s all out of the way now and we’ll be here on time for the weekend.”

It was a good thing the Ross family arrived at the track 30 minutes before the doors opened at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for the Pit Lane Walk. The line was already huge, despite the threat of rain and thunderstorms that came later in the day, and many fans were turned away before the event ended at noon. People at the front of the line said they had arrived at 6:30 a.m.

An hour after the gates had opened, the human traffic in pit lane was like the Décarie Expressway at rush hour — another example of how much this city embraces Grand Prix weekend.

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Again, the crowds Thursday morning weren’t there to watch any action on the track. It was just to watch the cars being prepared for the race.

After a two-year absence, record crowds are expected for this year’s event, which is already sold out.

“Very excited to be here,” Brad said. “I’ve been meaning to come here for a long time. I’ve been to Ottawa in the past, but never made it this much farther.

“I’m not much of a Canadiens fan, so maybe that’s why,” he added with a grin. “But we finally made it and I’m very excited. I can’t wait to see the cars. Our tickets are on the hairpin turn, so we’re super excited to see the braking zone, watching them come in, and to finally hear the cars and experience the whole weekend.”

It’s not only the rich and famous who come to Montreal for the Grand Prix, although the event does provide a financial windfall for the local economy, estimated as high as $90 million.

The Ross family is staying at Hôtel Le Dauphin in Longueuil to save money.

“I just did a bunch of research on Reddit,” said Adam, who handled the travel arrangements for the family. “F1 Reddit was a lot of help figuring out where to go. We knew to take the métro, which was nice so we weren’t stuck in traffic forever. Great reviews online for the hotel and it was cheaper (than downtown) — which was nice.”

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Don, the father, became an F1 fan while watching former driver Michael Schumacher during his glory days with Ferrari. He watched F1 races on TV with his sons when they were growing up and they also became big fans.

“The Netflix series (Drive to Survive) helped reignite that passion,” Brad said, adding that his favourite driver is Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who leads the drivers’ standings heading into the Canadian Grand Prix.

“We’re half Dutch,” Brad explained. “As much as I do love the Canadian drivers (Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi) I’m a huge Red Bull fan and I love Max.”

The race isn’t the only thing the Ross family is excited about this weekend.

“We’ll make it downtown, for sure, go to Old Montreal,” Brad said. “Everyone told me we have to go to Schwartz’s (Deli), so we’ll definitely go there. I know there’s also some festival stuff in the streets.”

His father cut in and added: “Maybe a pub crawl, too.”

Don said he couldn’t ask for a better Father’s Day gift than spending this weekend with his three boys.

“We’re like true Canadians,” he said. “We’re stickhandling our way through it.”

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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