The Team Behind the Team: What Does Montreal Mean to Me?

"I grew up in Ottawa," says Evan. "It was a quiet town. Going to Montreal was far more cosmopolitan, there was a massive community from Europe and the rest of the world.

"Going there felt a bit like going to Europe. As an engineer it has some of the best schools in the country, too."

Canada's history and love-affair with F1 can be traced back to one man, and one man only: Gilles Villeneuve.

Evan was only eight when Gilles tragically lost his life at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix, but Evan had already felt the buzz that was spreading across the country as a result of the 32-year-old's success.

"The reason that F1 was popular in Canada while I was growing up was because of him, and later the rise of his son Jacques [Villeneuve]," explains Evan.

"You had this incredible story of this homegrown hero died so young and then his son coming through the ranks to be World Champion."

When Jacques beat Michael Schumacher to the 1997 F1 World Championship, Evan had yet to reach the F1 fraternity. He was at University, but the paddock was in touching distance.

"The father of a friend of mine - Bob Robinson - was a car dealer in Vancouver and was involved in Canadian motorsport," says Evan.

"National interest in F1 had peaked thanks to Jacques' win and Bob was inspired too.

"He encouraged his son and myself into motorsport to start a Formula SAE team, the North American equivalent of Formula Student.

"He gave us an introduction to the sport by sponsoring our team, loaning us cars and trailers to drive round North America to go to competitions. He had this incredible passion for it.

"That is how I really got involved, and when you get your teeth into motorsport, it is a lot of fun."

Since that first visit to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Evan has tasted victory eight times - four with Ferrari and four with our Team here in Brackley. In 2016, he was on the podium to collect the winning constructor's trophy.

Michael Douglas was on hand for interviews that Sunday afternoon, but it was not the Hollywood actor that left Evan starstruck.

"The man handing out the trophies was Marc Garneau," recalls Evan.

"To the drivers he was introduced as the Minister of Transport, but to me he was a boyhood hero. He was the first Canadian in space!

"It was this strange moment standing there with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, who everyone was starstruck by. But I was stood there looking at Marc thinking, do you not know who that is?!

"No-one in the team did. I was the only one.

"It was an honour to represent the team and it was particularly special for me."

Other memorable moments have taken place not at the track, but instead in and on the neighbouring Olympic Basin - the man-made body of water created for the rowing and canoeing events at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

When the annual boat race between teams across the basin still took place, Evan recalls having to teach a group of Italian mechanics how to row.

"We were horrendous, we lost by about half a kilometre. But it was always cool that Montreal had that event, it gave the race weekend a different kind of exposure."