Engine woes for Hamilton

F1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton fears he will not be able to fight for victory in Canada.

Hamilton’s Mercedes team were due to bring an engine upgrade with them to the seventh round of the campaign but it will not be ready until the next race in France later this month.

Ferrari and Renault, which powers the Red Bull team, are due to unleash updated engines at the high-power Montreal track this weekend.

Hamilton, who holds a 14-point title l ead over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, believes he will be on the back foot at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.

“If the other teams have got fresh engines, given how close we are, we won’t be in a position to fight for the win,” Hamilton said.

“This is a power circuit, so it was our target to use the new engine, which definitely would have been helpful.

“It is unfortunate but we will have t o make do without it, and that means our performance will not be the greatest. It could be a difficult weekend.”

Hamilton will be tackling the Canadian race with the same engine he used at the opening round i n Australia.

He added: “The engine will have lost performance and at a power circuit that will be magnified.

“All I am hoping for is reliability. Naturally, I am here to win but I just want to see the race through and that i s my o n ly concern.

“Our goal is to finish every race, so I’m hoping for reliability.

“I will try to make the difference on the track with my driving.”

Lewis Hamilton