Originally named the Île Notre-Dame Circuit, the track was built and opened in 1978, taking over the Canadian Grand Prix from Mosport Park near Toronto, which had hosted the event eight times, and from the Mont-Tremblant circuit in Quebec where it ran in 1968 and 1970. Safety concerns at Mosport had blighted the 1977 event and prompted the switch to Montréal. The circuit was renamed in 1982 in honour of Canadian Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, father of Jacques Villeneuve, following his death that year in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Canadian Grand Prix was first held at the circuit in 1978, and the occasion became immediately legendary when hometown hero Gilles Villeneuve won the race for Scuderia Ferrari. The combination of a local driver winning on a new circuit in front of Canadian crowds created an emotional connection that established the race as one of the most popular on the Formula One calendar.
The track layout uses the infrastructure of Notre Dame Island, with almost half the circuit — from the hairpin until after the pit area — running alongside the Olympic Basin, a large rectangular body of water built for the rowing and canoeing events at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. Barriers run close to the circuit throughout, and experienced drivers have repeatedly been caught out.
A complex of turns one and two has become known as the Senna S for its shape when viewed from above. Turn 8, the fast Pont de la Concorde corner after the bridge underpass, leads through a kink into a braking zone. Turn 10, the hairpin, is considered one of the most complete examples of a 180-degree hairpin turn in Formula One competition and provides a consistent overtaking opportunity.
The exit of the final chicane before the start/finish straight features a wall on its outside bearing a Tourisme Québec advertisement. In 1999, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher, and Jacques Villeneuve all struck this wall in the same race, earning it the nickname the Wall of Champions. Jenson Button struck it in 2005 and Sebastian Vettel during free practice in 2011.
For the first years of its existence the track was composed of technical, medium-speed chicanes with relatively low overall lap speeds. Between 1986 and 1988 — with a one-year hiatus in 1987 — the pitlane and start/finish straight were relocated from the hairpin to the exit of a fast right-left chicane, which became the final corner. This transformation turned Montreal into a power circuit emphasising straight-line speed. In 1994, a chicane was inserted between Casino corner and the hairpin to reduce speeds following the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at Imola. The 1996 race removed both that chicane and Casino corner, altering the run from the hairpin into a longer straight. A pit exit modification in 2002 shortened the circuit slightly. In 2017, additional Tecpro barriers replaced older tyre barriers ahead of the faster cars introduced under new regulations, and the exit angle of the final chicane was modified for safety reasons.
The circuit has hosted the World Sportscar Championship (480 km of Montreal, 1990), the Champ Car World Series Grand Prix of Montreal (2002–2006), the NASCAR Nationwide Series (2007–2012), and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series (2007–2012). The first NASCAR race north of the Canada-United States border ran at the circuit in 2007, with Kevin Harvick winning in a controversial result. The 2008 NASCAR race made history as the first to run on rain tyres.
The 2011 Canadian Grand Prix became the longest World Championship Grand Prix ever held, exceeding four hours in length due to a lengthy rain delay. The fastest ever timed lap around the circuit — 1:10.240, set by Sebastian Vettel in qualifying for the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix — is not recognised as an official lap record because it was set in qualifying rather than during a race.
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve stands as one of Formula One's most character-laden venues, combining unusual surroundings — a river island, an Olympic basin, a race won by its namesake in its inaugural year — with a layout that consistently produces overtaking, attrition, and controversy. The Wall of Champions, the hairpin, and the Senna S have all become reference points in the broader language of motorsport.