Lewis Hamilton is the joint-most successful driver in the history of the Canadian Grand Prix. Alongside Michael Schumacher, he’s won the race a whopping seven times.
There are only two venues – the Hungaroring in Budapest and Silverstone in his native Britain – where he has won more often. But the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve holds a special meaning for Hamilton because it was the site of his first-ever F1 victory in 2007.
He won there twice more during his days at McLaren (in 2010 and 2012) before rattling off three consecutive victories there as a Mercedes driver between 2015 and 2017. It’s five years since he last took the chequered flag in Montreal following a bitterly controversial race that saw Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel penalised for an unsafe rejoin while leading.
Hamilton’s prospects of adding to that tally this year are scant, though the forecast rain could offer a glimmer of hope. His bigger concern will be getting his Mercedes car onto the Grand Prix podium for the first time this year.
The 39-year-old heads into the weekend eighth in the drivers’ championship with just 42 points on the board. He’s 12 behind teammate George Russell.
He scored back-to-back sixth-place finishes in Miami and Emilia Romagna, his joint-best results of the season. Last time out in Monaco, he came home seventh after expressing his frustration at a missed opportunity in the pit-stop phase.
Lewis Hamilton carries out rare ‘track inspection’ ahead of Canadian Grand Prix
Since 1982, Montreal has featured on the F1 calendar in all but four seasons. That means it’s one of the tracks the drivers know best.
But this year, they will have to adapt to the resurfaced tarmac. If there’s a downpour, it could become very slippery indeed.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton rarely heads out on track before the first practice session on Friday. He doesn’t feel the need to do it as part of his pre-race routine.
But writing in a column on the Formula 1 website, journalist Lawrence Barretto revealed that he’d spotted the Englishman breaking that tradition. Perhaps he wanted to get a closer look at the fresh surface.
He wrote: “With teams unsure how their respective cars will react on the new track surface – even Lewis Hamilton was out and about for a track inspection on Thursday evening, the Briton rarely doing such a thing – plus the prospect of wet weather all weekend, across all sessions, and three teams legitimately in the fight for the win, the weekend is set up beautifully.”
Lewis Hamilton warned that Sergio Perez contract extension could hurt him
This will be Hamilton’s last visit to Canada as a Mercedes driver as he prepares to join Ferrari next year. The top three teams in the championship have all confirmed their line-ups for 2025 after Red Bull announced a contract extension for Sergio Perez this week.
On paper, this may suit Hamilton and co. Perez is only fifth in the drivers’ championship, and his deficit to Verstappen allows them to put more pressure on the Dutchman.
However, one journalist has pointed out that it could pose a problem. While Hamilton and future Charles Leclerc will likely take points off one another on a regular basis, the odds are that Verstappen won’t need to worry about that at Red Bull.
Still, Eddie Jordan is convinced that Hamilton’s move to Maranello is for the best. He feels that the sport’s most decorated driver has lost his ‘mojo’ at Mercedes and will benefit from a fresh start at a resurgent team.
The post Journalists spots Lewis Hamilton doing something unusual on track ahead of the Canadian GP appeared first on F1 Oversteer.