Sprint format, start at 10:00 p.m., and an intensifying Mercedes duel. Everything you need to follow the Montreal race without missing anything.
Three weeks after Miami, Formula 1 crosses the Atlantic to resume in Montreal, on one of the most special circuits of the season. Antonelli went on to win in China and Miami, becoming the first driver to reach 100 points this season. Russell, his teammate at Mercedes, is now 20 points behind and arrives at the track where he won in 2025.
McLaren took advantage of the three-week break to bring a package of developments that propelled Norris and Piastri together to the podium in Florida. Sprint format this week, so only one free practice session before everything starts, Sprint qualifying Friday evening, Sprint Saturday noon, qualifying Saturday afternoon and race Sunday at 10:00 p.m. And as always, the question that comes up: how to follow it live from France without a Canal+ subscription?
Canal+: the official solution in France
In France, Canal+ holds the exclusive rights to Formula 1 until 2029. The channel covers the entire weekend: free practice, Sprint qualifying, Sprint, qualifying and main race, live on Canal+ Sport and via MyCanal. Prices are between 15 and 30 euros per month depending on the formula. For those who want to follow each session without exception and benefit from Julien Fébreau’s commentary in French, this is the most complete and stable option.
Free and legal alternatives from Belgium and Switzerland
RTBF broadcasts Formula 1 for free in Belgium on its Auvio platform, with commentary in French by Gaëtan Vigneron. In Switzerland, it is the RTS which offers the qualifications and the race in the clear on rts.ch/sport. These two broadcasts are in French, with commentary, no subscription required, and legal for residents of these countries. For those who want to compare all the available solutions, the comparison of the best VPNs covers the performance of each service in streaming and privacy.
The restriction is geographical: these streams are only accessible to IP addresses in the country concerned. A resident in France, Canada or elsewhere cannot access it directly. This is where a VPN comes in: by connecting to a server in Belgium or Switzerland, your connection takes on a local IP address and the platforms treat you as a resident.
Activate NordVPN at €3.09/month
NordVPN offers more than 8,900 servers in 128 countries, including servers in Belgium and Switzerland. We tested the connection on Auvio via a Belgian server: the F1 stream launched without friction, in HD quality, without buffering for an hour of viewing. Same result on the RTS with a server in Zurich. The two-year subscription costs €3.09 per month, with 76% reduction and three additional months free, and 30 days money back guarantee. If you watch just one race on it, the subscription pays for itself.
In practice: you open NordVPN, you connect to a server in Belgium, you go to auvio.be, and you watch the Canadian GP live, for free and in French.
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Free + NordVPN: the calculation that holds up
The logic is simple. The two-year NordVPN subscription costs around €74 in total. RTBF and RTS broadcast all the races of the season for free. If you use NordVPN to watch all 24 Grands Prix of the season, the cost per race drops to less than €4. A Canal+ Sport subscription over the same period represents between €360 and €720 depending on the formula. For those who want to dig into the technical characteristics of the service, the complete NordVPN test details the measured speeds, the NordLynx protocol and the audited no-log policy.
Test NordVPN to watch the GP for free
The 30-day money-back guarantee also lets you test the first Grands Prix before committing: you watch Montreal this weekend, then Emilia-Romagna, Spain or Monaco the following week, and you then decide if you keep the subscription. If not, online support and refund within a few days, without conditions.
The Montreal race starts on Sunday at 10:00 p.m. French time. If you plan to follow the entire season, now is a good time to implement the solution.
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The circuit and the sporting context
The Canadian Grand Prix is contested on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, a 4.361 km semi-urban track located on Île Notre-Dame, in Montreal. Fourteen turns, two long straights cut by massive braking at the hairpin, tight chicanes which penalize the slightest error in placement and above all the famous Wall of Champions at the exit of the last turn. Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve crashed there on the same weekend in 1999. It’s a circuit that rewards precision and low-speed traction, more than pure top speed.
On the sporting side, Kimi Antonelli leads the championship with 100 points after his victories in China and Miami. Russell follows at 80 points, winner in Montreal in 2025 and determined to reverse the trend in his team. Leclerc is third with 59 points despite a 20-second penalty in Miami. Norris and Hamilton are tied for fourth with 51 points each. Piastri is sixth at 43 points, Verstappen seventh very far at 26 points. McLaren showed in Miami that its package of developments was serious, and Canada will say if the dynamic is confirmed. Changeable weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday, which fits perfectly with the unpredictable reputation of the Montreal Grand Prix.
The complete program and timetables in French time (CET)
The time difference between Montreal and Paris is 6 hours. All sessions take place in the afternoon on the Canadian side, which places them in the evening on the European side.
Free practice 1 will be held on Friday May 22 at 6:30 p.m. French time. Sprint qualifying follows the same day at 10:30 p.m. The Sprint takes place on Saturday May 23 at 6:00 p.m. Classic qualifying is Saturday at 10 p.m. The main race takes place on Sunday May 24 at 10:00 p.m., with an estimated finish around midnight. Small peculiarity this year: the race was postponed from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. local Montreal time so as not to overlap with the Indianapolis 500 which is run on the same day.
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