HAPPY HUNTING GROUND
Hamilton gunning for another win at Canadian Grand Prix
LEWIS Hamilton returns to his happiest stomping ground this weekend when he seeks to extend his world championship lead with a record-equalling seventh triumph at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The defending four-time champion, who leads nearest rival and fellow four-time champion Sebastian Vettel by 14 points after six races, claimed his maiden Formula One win at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2007.
Since then Hamilton has added five more wins including a hat-trick of Mercedes triumphs in 2015, 2016 and 2017 to move within reach of becoming the first man to secure four straight pole positions — he converted pole in each of those years — and four consecutive wins.
Hamilton’s pole success last year enabled him to equal three-time champion Ayrton Senna’s record of 65 pole positions, a feat that saw him presented by the Senna family with a helmet worn by the great Brazilian.
That display of emotion confirmed Hamilton’s unchallenged supremacy in Montreal, but he faces a much more difficult challenge from rivals this weekend as the leading teams take their scheduled revised second engines of the season.
Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff said: “We expect a number of teams to take their second power units, including all the Mercedes cars. We are pushing for more performance as soon as possible.
“We can see that we are in a stronger position in both championships than we were 12 months ago, but we know the battle is more fierce with ourselves, Ferrari and Red Bull in contention every weekend.”
Like Mercedes, both Red Bull and Ferrari are expected to use new engines, but Red Bull technical boss Adrian Newey downplayed expectations, notably because Monaco victor Daniel Ricciardo faces grid penalties for other technical power-unit changes.
Newey suggested that Renault would gain only around one-tenth of a second per lap on a power-hungry track that suits Mercedes, but Wolff warned “past performances are no guarantee of success this year.
“We need to make sure we get the most from all the tyre compounds, including the ‘hyper-soft’, if we want to come out on top.”
Vettel, winless in four races, finished second for Ferrari in Monaco. He has won before in Montreal, in 2013 with Red Bull, and was unlucky that a tactical error undid Ferrari’s strategy with him in 2016.
Hamilton will know he and Ferrari remain a serious threat in what is expected to be a far more entertaining affair than the dull procession in Monte Carlo.