F1 News: Canadian GP Outrage Revealed As Event Organizers Blocked Views And Sent Fans Away

The recent Canadian Grand Prix has come under fire for its handling of fans, transforming what should have been an exciting Formula 1 weekend into a "nightmare," according to F1 photographer Kym Illman. Via a compelling narrative shared on the social media platform X, Illman detailed several organizational failures that significantly marred the fan experience.

Illman, in a video accompanied by critical comments, explained how general admission ticket holders, who had stationed themselves along the start-finish straight and endured extreme weather conditions from early morning, found their views completely obstructed by black mesh installed by organizers merely an hour before the race began. He wrote:

"It's safe to say the Canadian GP was a nightmare for many fans who attended over the weekend. But this one takes the cake. General Admission fans found themselves a spot on the start-finish straight throughout the weekend, but come one hour prior to the race, the organisers blocked their view with black mesh as they watched on helpless, despite being at the spot for hours.

"Work needs to be done to ensure next year's event is not a disaster for fans at the track."

ICYMI | F1 fans OUTRAGED with Montreal GP organisers after a disaster weekend for fan experience

It's safe to say the Canadian GP was a nightmare for many fans who attended over the weekend. But this one takes the cake. General Admission fans found themselves a spot on the… pic.twitter.com/YzQBz4dU0d
— Kym Illman (@KymIllman) June 12, 2024

On Friday, confusion peaked when local authorities inaccurately announced the cancellation of Free Practice 1 (FP1) due to weather, sending fans away unnecessarily. Illman captured the frustration of fans and the chaos that ensued, he commented:

"I can understand their anger, as I can understand those people who were caught on the bridge on Friday when they were told by police that they had to turn and go home because FP1 and FP2 had been cancelled.

"I did a separate video on that and I spoke to Jacques Villeneuve. He was one of those people standing in that huge line for 75 minutes through rain and hail and he didn't accept what he was being told because he was getting information from inside the track. He wasn't allowed in but he waited for 75 minutes and then suddenly the gates were opened.

"People out on that bridge were saying there was no communication. The staff that were there clearly weren't trained on how to handle this sort of thing. They were teenagers, spoke only one language. And in the end, this has done a lot of damage for this race. And certainly, the promoter has a lot of work to do before next year to solve those problems."

Illman also explained in more detail the situation with fans having their views blocked, he said:

"Many of these people came in when the gates opened. So they'd been sitting prior to the race for I'm guessing six hours in the rain, which wasn't too bad on Sunday, but they were on the start-finishing line, they were probably going to get a pretty good view of what was happening in front of them.

"They were general admission ticket holders. It's still an expensive buy, but it's not a grandstand seat. About an hour prior to the race, authorities come along and put up this black mesh over the wire fence. So those people went from having a great view, to having no view. So they then had to go and find somewhere else to watch, or try and peer through that black mesh, which is not even worth doing.

"Now they've been sitting there for hours on race day, plus the two previous days, and in the last minute, they just been 'punched in the face'."