5 Amazing Canadian Grand Prix Moments

The Canadian Grand Prix is one of the most treasured events on the Formula One schedule.

And with a challenging yet beautifully simple track layout located at a picturesque, scenic venue, it's easy to understand why.

Over the years, the Canadian GP has produced some of the most exciting, unpredictable and wild races of a given season, encouraging competitive and intelligent racing and throwing up plenty of surprise results.

From Nigel Mansell's last-lap clanger in 1991 to Jenson Button's heroics 20 years later, Canada has dished out heartbreak and elation in equal measure.

With this year's race set to be closely fought between Mercedes, Ferrari and even Williams, the 2015 edition should be no different.

As the grand prix weekend fast approaches, here are five amazing moments Canada has gifted to F1 in years gone by.

Sebastian Vettel Error Gifts Jenson Button Victory

Jenson Button suffered a drive-through penalty, collided with McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in separate incidents and made six pit stops in the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.

Yet he still crossed the finish line before anyone else.

It was that kind of race, one in which outright pace, the fastest car and the cleanest driver all counted for nothing against that old sporting knack of being in the right place at the right time. And in wet conditions, those in which he has always thrived, Jenson was always going to be the one to watch.

Michael Schumacher watched Button; Mark Webber did, too.

But neither could do anything about the blue-helmeted McLaren as it sailed by the pair of them in quick succession, setting Button up for a late attack on leader Sebastian Vettel.

Watching Jenson proved to be Seb's downfall as, entering Turn 6 on the last of the 70 laps, Vettel—the reigning world champion and the winner of five of the first six races—dabbed a wheel on the wet stuff and half-spun his RB7, the Red Bull's lost momentum allowing Button to slip past.

On the day Vettel became mortal once more, Button produced a superhuman display. He only led half-a-lap, but that was more than enough when those four hours were up.

It was that kind of race.

Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen Collide in the Pit Lane

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve pit lane has always been one of the most hazardous on the Formula One calendar, with the entry located in the braking zone for the final corner and the exit feeding cars almost on to the racing line at Turn 2.

The nature of the pit exit means, quite often under safety-car conditions, the rare sight of a red light is visible at the end of the pit lane, forcing drivers to stop before rejoining the track. This has caught many drivers out over the years, with some disqualified from the race for ignoring a red light they probably didn't even see.

And in 2008, the red light caused one of the most bizarre crashes in F1 history as Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen collided at the end of the slow lane.

Hamilton had led from pole until the safety car was deployed on Lap 17, when he and six other cars headed for the pits.

The British driver, though, lost the lead in the process and while Raikkonen and eventual winner Robert Kubica sat patiently at the end of the pit lane, waiting for the green light to shine, Hamilton continued at full (well, pit limiter) speed and ploughed into the rear wing of the Ferrari, eliminating both men on the spot.

Nico Rosberg slammed into the rear of the McLaren for good measure and while the Williams driver was able to continue, albeit with a damaged front wing, a bemused Hamilton and Raikkonen faced a short, humiliating walk back to their respective garages.

Nigel Mansell Celebrates Too Soon

Nigel Mansell was on his way to a dominant win in the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix—and he knew it.

Having led every single lap, the British driver decided to treat the 69th and final tour as a victory parade, waving to the crowd from the cockpit of his Williams.

However, as he negotiated the hairpin—one of the biggest fan hotspots, with grandstands lining the corner—Mansell's car stalled as the revs dropped, a direct result of his complacency, lack of attentiveness and self-satisfaction.

Mansell's celebrations were cut short as his car finally trundled to a halt just two corners from the chequered flag, leaving his great rival, Nelson Piquet, whom he had battled with such ferocity at Williams in 1986 and '87, to inherit the win for Benetton.

According to Sky Sports' Mike Wise, Piquet admitted he had benefited from good fortune, but refused to sympathise with Mansell, stating: "When I saw him, I couldn’t believe it. It was very, very good, very lucky. I don’t feel sorry for nobody."

Robert Kubica's Horror Crash

Robert Kubica was lining up a pass on Jarno Trulli at the hairpin in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix when his front wing made contact with the rear of the Toyota.

The result was disastrous as Kubica, unable to control his BMW Sauber, lifted off the ground and glanced one concrete barrier before smashing head-on into another.

The car rebounded back across the track surface, somersaulting in mid-air, before colliding with the barrier on the opposite side, which it slid along for several metres before coming to a rest on its side. 

The sheer violence of the crash was such that Kubica's feet were seen poking out of the monocoque, but apart from "slight concussion and a sprained ankle," as reported by BBC Sport at the time, the Polish driver was unscathed.

Kubica would miss the following weekend's United States GP, as some kid by the name of Sebastian Vettel drove his car at Indianapolis, but the effect the crash had on F1 was significant.

Had that accident occurred just a few years earlier, there would have been a high probability that it would have resulted in a fatality. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, still arguably one of the more dangerous tracks on the calendar, had presented a great test of modern safety standards and F1 had passed.

The Wall of Champions Claims Its First Victims

The true appeal of Formula One is to watch drivers dice with danger.

All of them do to some extent, but the very best drivers push themselves, their machinery and their surroundings to the absolute limit, which is why they're so thrilling to watch.

The final chicane at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve requires that no-compromise, relentless approach, with cars requiring a strong exit to lose as little speed as possible from the long back stretch and maximise speed down the main straight.

And that perhaps explains why it is quite often the best drivers, those willing to extract the most from the corner, who get it wrong and push their luck a stretch too far.

In the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix, the chicane was abused by no fewer than three world champions, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher, and each of them paid for their pursuit of perfection with their afternoons, their cars clouting the concrete wall lurking on the outside.

It was after that race when the barrier, perhaps the most iconic and notorious in the sport, came to be affectionately known as the Wall of Champions, the one place where limits must be respected and not challenged.