The Montreal F1 Grand Prix's biggest f**k-ups of 2024

As they do each year, Formula One fans from around the globe flooded the city over the weekend to celebrate one of the world's biggest sporting events: the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix.

Given that F1 has taken place in Montreal pretty much annually since 1978, and the city relies on its success to bring in millions of dollars, you'd think organizers and officials would have it down to a science by now.

But with hundreds of thousands of people packing the streets, it's hard for organizers to pull off an event of this magnitude without a single hitch. And, frankly, they didn't.

While some problems were out of anyone's control, major issues still sparked outrage among residents, visitors and business owners alike this year.

The stage collapse

There was good news and there was bad news when the main stage for Festival Grand Prix sur Crescent partially collapsed overnight between Wednesday, June 5 and Thursday, June 6.

The bad news, of course, was that workers were left scrambling to fix it before the festival began on Thursday at 11 a.m. — not to mention the poor people walking by, who got the fright of their lives as they ran screaming from the deteriorating structure.

The good news was that it could have been a whole lot worse had it happened later in the weekend when a host of activities, including musical performances and a celebrity pit stop competition, were scheduled to occur on that very stage.

Thankfully, no one was injured, and the stage was repaired in time for the event to be carried out as planned.

The terrasse fiasco

On Friday, June 7, the first night of Grand Prix weekend, multiple terrases located in the heart of the festivities — on rue Peel, rue Crescent and rue Notre-Dame — were forced to shut down when the Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal (SIM)'s fire prevention officers paid them a visit.

"We had done something magnificent and invested more than $40,000," said Sandra Ferreira, director of operations at Portuguese seafood restaurant Ferreira Café, while fighting back tears in an Instagram video. "Why did you wait until 9 p.m. [for the SIM intervention] when the restaurant was full? I find it cruel.”

In the video, Ferreira explains that that a team of "firefighters” showed up and ordered her to evacuate and close the packed terrasse because it was not up to code. Based on a press release the Association des pompiers de Montréal issued about this ordeal, they would probably want us to clarify that these weren't actually firefighters, but rather "prevention officers" — civilian employees who wear uniforms similar to that of firefighters.

According to the Montreal Gazette, Ferreira said she had a permit from the city to put a canopy over the restaurant's terrasse and had adjusted it to comply with regulations when a city inspector visited her a few weeks prior to F1. But a SIM spokesperson told the Gazette that the canopy was less than three metres away from the building, which was against the rules and a fire hazard.

In addition to Ferreira Café, the owner of Chez Alexandre, a Parisian bistro on rue Peel, told Narcity Québec his covered terrasse was forced to close resulting in an estimated loss of $50,000 to $60,000.

All in all, this SIM inspection blitz, called Operation Sentinelle, resulted in around 18 tickets being handed out on Thursday and Friday for a total of $23,600 in fines, as well as the closure of two restaurants and four terrases, TVA Nouvelles reported.

Two SIM employees have since been suspended for the snafu. Meanwhile, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has apologized for the "chaos," and the City of Montreal launched an administrative inquiry into the incident.

The decor debacle

A screenshot of an Instagram story in which John Edward Gumbley discusses the SIM's intervention at Yoko Luna.@johnnygumbley | Instagram

John Edward Gumbley, president and co-owner of JEGantic Hospitality Group, said his downtown supper club Yoko Luna was one of the establishments that got in trouble with SIM prevention officers at an inopportune time.

He told Narcity Québec that on Thursday, June 6 — less than 24 hours before the official start to F1 festivities — his team was forced to remove $150,000 worth of decor, which included artificial plants, real trees and other design elements.

"They arrived Thursday at midnight to tell us it all had to be done before returning the next day [Friday] around 10 p.m. Otherwise, they would close us down,” he said. "They didn't bother to send me a notice or an e-mail [...]. What they asked for was almost impossible, and [the closure] would have cost me about a million dollars in lost sales.”

Gumbley said he contacted a company specializing in fire safety certification in order to validate the conformity of his decor, but SIM refused and so workers tore everything down and cleaned up the entire site the night before his busiest weekend of the year.

In a story posted to Instagram, Gumbley said he would be taking the matter to court.

A screenshot of an Instagram story in which John Edward Gumbley discusses the SIM's intervention at Yoko Luna.@johnnygumbley | Instagram

The 'Pitbull' pitfall

Moments before rapper Pitbull was supposed to take to the stage to headline the Grand Prix Podium Concert on Saturday, June 8, fans got a message notifying them that the show would not go on.

"Due to a mechanical problem with the plane, Pitbull regrets having to cancel his performance scheduled for tonight at Parc Jean-Drapeau," read a message displayed on a big screen.

Evenko, which organized the event in collaboration with Bell, promised ticket holders that they would be automatically reimbursed. However, concert-goers — who had been waiting on-site in the pouring rain after forking out money for travel and accomodations — took to social media to express their frustration.

"Saved my money for this concert in Montreal for @pitbull now it’s cancelled and I asked a taxi for a ride to a hotel that is 10 minutes away, he told us $100," wrote @Arnusha2 on X (formerly Twitter).

About one week prior, Friday's Podium concert featuring The Chainsmokers was also quietly cancelled by event organizers.

As X user @theosattic put it on Saturday night, "F1 weekend in Montreal is just hail, rain, chainsmokers cancelling and pitbull just not showing up."