The 2002 Canadian Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 2002 Formula One season and was held on 9 June 2002 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Michael Schumacher won his sixth Grand Prix of the season and his fifth Canadian Grand Prix win. Schumacher fended off the challenges of Juan Pablo Montoya, who later retired, and his teammate Rubens Barrichello, whose race strategy cost him a chance of victory and demoting him to third. Fresh off his victory at Monaco, David Coulthard finished second in the race and earned his fourth podium finish of the season. Background The Canadian Grand Prix is the first race of the season were the cars run in a low downforce configuration. The previous Canadian Grand Prix, Ralf Schumacher in the Williams won comfortably from Michael Schumacher thanks to the power of the BMW engine. However this time, it is believed that Ferrari have closed the gap considerably in terms of engine power and therefore expect a showdown between the 2 teams with tyres playing a major role in the outcome of the race. Behind those two teams, no one will come close but expect a fight between Sauber, Renault, McLaren and possibly the Honda runners. The previous week before the race, all the Formula 1 teams were testing. With the exception of Minardi, all the teams were testing at Silverstone but due to changing weather conditions, it was hard to read anything into the times. Ferrari were also testing at Monza while BAR had a private session at Circuit Paul Ricard to test the new components to be used here and that includes a new engine, gearbox and aero package. Minardi also conducted a 2-day test at Vairano. Qualifying Juan Pablo Montoya in the Williams secured his third pole position of the season and the sixth of his career after seeing off a close challenge from world championship leader, Michael Schumacher. Montoya posted a 1m 12.836s to beat his arch-rival Schumacher by just 0.182s. Montoya was the only driver to break the 1m 13s barrier and he did it twice. Schumacher`s chances of retaliating at the end of the session were spoiled by a few spots of rain that affected one or two parts of the track. Montoya quoted, "The car has been very competitive so far, and the tyres play a very important role. It is going to be an interesting race