Canadian Grand Prix: Which Celebs Will Show Up?
The Canadian Grand Prix may be a race at its core, but the event is far more than just a rapid acceleration around the circuit.
As the event approaches on June 19, we realise we’ve come a long, long way since the first Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in 1978. That was the year that Gilles Villeneuve won the first race by finishing nearly blind and giving the Montreal stadium its current name of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
For 2022, we’ve got an extra treat on our hands as reigning world champion Max Verstappen competes against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and seven World Drivers’ Championship title holder Lewis Hamilton.
The Canadian Grand Prix betting F1 odds are already up at Bodog, but it’s not only for the big race itself.
We’ve got our eye on some other events happening on the sidelines where Hollywood A-listers are spotted every year enjoying the action.
We’ve got a few hunches about which celebs may attend the event at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve based on past appearances, and we’ve got some special F1 odds so you can make bank off of your own hunches, too.
Michael Douglas (-250)
Michael Douglas is one of Hollywood’s most respected personalities, and he’s been appearing on the big screen for over five decades, even securing the coveted Hollywood Triple Crown.
What you may not realise, however, is that before Douglas got into acting, he had dreams of being a racecar driver himself, and he’s been a die-hard fan of racing ever since.
Douglas lives just outside of New York City, which is a quick hour-long plane ride to Montréal, and he’s often seen at the Canadian Grand Prix with his two kids and wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones. He’s also on a first-name basis with many involved in the scene, including Charles Leclerc after they met this year at the qualifying session in Miami on May 8th.
Considering how big a fan Douglas is of the F1 event, it’s hard to imagine that he’d miss a year as grand as this one, and odds of -250 are all but a shoe-in that the 77-year old Hollywood legend will be rooting on the drivers from his seat in the exclusive A-listers paddock.
Michael Fassbender (-120)
Marvel super villain Magneto, AKA Michael Fassbender, is a multi-talented celebrity in both the worlds of acting and car racing.
Aside from his magnitude of roles in Hollywood films, German-Irish Fassbender has been racing ever since his first Ferrari Challenge in 2017. He competed in the European Le Mans Series in 2020 and 2021, and he’ll be behind the wheel of a #93 Porsche 911 RSR-19 yet again this year for the series in June of 2022.
We know that Fassbender is a fan of the Canadian Grand Prix, as is evidenced by countless photos of him mingling with fans at the event in 2015. For 2022, however, Fassbender will have a lot on his plate with his own races taking place in the Le Mans in Europe at the same time as the Canadian Grand Prix, so there’s a chance that the Irishman will sit this one out, giving him Canadian Grand Prix betting odds of -120.
James McAvoy (+200)
Scottish actor James McAvoy is no stranger to the Canadian Grand Prix, having also attended the event alongside his long-time friend Michael Fassbender in 2015, living it up as he took pictures inside the Infinity Red Bull racing garage.
The duo developed a close friendship in real life after their portrayal of on-screen mutant friends Professor X and Erik Lehnsherr on the set of X Men: First Class back in 2011.
If Fassbender makes it to the event in 2022, there’s a good chance his buddy McAvoy would be right by his side. Although, without a movie in the works that brings them together yet again on the big screen and in one geographical location, the +200 odds reflect the possibility that McAvoy will skip the Grand Prix this year for one of his many other engagements.
Tom Brady (+275)
Tom Brady has been the most well-known football quarterback of the last two decades, having won seven Super Bowl rings since his first trophy in 2002.
While Formula 1 racing may be a far cry from gridiron football, Brady has shown considerable interest in the event after attending the race in Montreal in 2016, and the Miami Grand Prix this year in May.
At the race in Miami, Brady met with driver Lewis Hamilton to discuss his upcoming career prospects and offer some advice about entering a sporting career into his forties, which is something Hamilton will face in about three years.
Considering his affinity for the sport and the bonding experience he shared with one of Formula One’s most prestigious drivers just a month ago, there’s a good chance we might see Brady cheering on his new friend Hamilton at the Canadian Grand Prix in June, and odds are +275 that he will.
Al Pacino (+300)
You may know him as Tony Montana in Brian De Palma’s “Scarface”, or the spiralling mobster Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” from 1972. The man is Al Pacino, and he’s been a staple in the film industry ever since those iconic blockbuster lines.
The New York-born actor is no stranger to Montréal or the Canadian Grand Prix. In 2015, Montréal’s mayor Denis Coderre, a long-time fan of Pacino’s, gave the actor an honorary key to the city. That was the same year that Pacino attended the racing event, watching as Lewis Hamilton beat out Daniel Ricciardo in the pole position.
Al Pacino hasn’t been spotted at the Canadian Grand Prix since 2015, but perhaps since Pacino had such a memorable moment surrounding his trip to the Grand Prix seven years ago in Canada’s “Sin City”, odds of +300 say we might be seeing him using his honorary key to swing open the doors of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 19th.
Penelope Cruz (+300)
“Spanish Enchantress” Penelope Cruz is known for her glamorous Hollywood film career starring in movies like Vanilla Sky, Blow, and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Despite her sweeping success in Hollywood, Cruz still knows how to have a good time off-duty at the biggest racing event in Canada, as she demonstrated during her 2016 attendance with husband Javier Bardem.
While all indications suggest that she hasn’t attended since then, Cruz is set to co-star in the film “Enzo Ferrari” directed by Michael Mann, as the wife of the Italian race car driver who founded the luxurious car brand.
Perhaps Cruz will be looking for some off-set insight into the world of racing at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2022, and we may just see her trackside. Odds of +300 says we will.
Positions are being cemented, and the countdown is on. Any number of these celebs could be gearing up themselves to attend the event, and bettors at Bodog casino can hit the gas right now on the best F1 odds for their chance to make bank from betting on the Canadian Grand Prix.