Lewis Hamilton will hope previous racing success in Montreal can earn him another victory at the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend as the Mercedes driver looks to chase down runaway leader Sebastian Vettel.
The 28-year-old has three times won in Canada and needs another 25 points on Sunday to keep in touch with Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Last year he qualified second on the grid but good pit strategy pushed him ahead of Vettel on lap 18 and from there he steered clear of the pole leader, taking the 70-lap race by more than 2.5 over Romain Grosjean.
The Red Bulls and Ferraris were nowhere to be seen that day as Hamilton used his nous and experience of this Montreal course to fly round the circuit.
This year it’ll be harder and Formula One betting fans have Hamilton as an outsider for first place given his tyre problems in recent weeks. The Mercedes camp haven’t got their formula quite right yet and although teammate Nico Rosberg careered to victory at Monte Carlo a fortnight ago Hamilton lost race speed after a pit stop that took him from second down to fourth – he never regained the pace.
Hamilton will likely put those problems behind him come race day in Canada and during practice on Thursday and Friday will prove his speed on single laps. He’s done this all season only to be held up when the race begins but this weekend will use his experience of leading from the front to his advantage.
His first ever F1 victory came at the Canadian GP in 2007, navigating through four safety cars, and three years later McLaren nailed a one-two with Hamilton coming in ahead of Jenson Button.
He qualified in pole position at both those races and was second on the grid last year, so punters should expect another solid performance on Saturday. This is his race to lose. Click here for the latest odds with bet365.
Info: bet365, Image: Mercedes GP
