STORY OF THE DAY— Alesi’s Emotional Victory in Montreal: On June 11, 1995, Jean Alesi claimed the only Formula One victory of his career at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. Driving the Ferrari 412 T2, he inherited the lead after Michael Schumacher’s Benetton suffered an electrical problem late in the race. The win was instantly celebrated as one of the most popular of the decade: Alesi had waited more than five years for a Grand Prix victory, achieved it on his 31st birthday, and did so in Ferrari’s famous number 27 — the number forever associated with Gilles Villeneuve, after whom the circuit was named.

The 1995 Canadian Grand Prix became memorable for several reasons beyond the result itself. It was Ferrari’s only victory of the 1995 season, the only race that year won by a car not powered by a Renault engine, and, to this day, the last Formula One World Championship Grand Prix won by a V12-powered car. The race had been scheduled for 69 laps, but the official result was declared after 68 because spectators invaded the track area almost immediately after Alesi took the chequered flag.

The celebration that followed became one of Formula One’s great images. On his victory lap, Alesi’s Ferrari ran out of fuel near the hairpin at the far end of the circuit. He climbed out, stood on the car, and “surfed” it to a stop before Michael Schumacher, arriving from behind, stopped and gave him a lift back to the pits on top of the Benetton. The fans, already pouring through the fences, turned the moment into a spontaneous and unforgettable tribute.

Montreal 1995 therefore stands as one of Ferrari’s most emotional victories of the modern era. It was not a championship-defining triumph, but it perfectly captured why Jean Alesi remained such a beloved driver: passionate, spectacular, loyal to Ferrari, and capable of producing a victory that felt far greater than a single race result. Fittingly, the same evening the first rumours began to circulate that Schumacher — the man who had dominated much of the race — would join Ferrari for 1996, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the team’s history.