Montreal offers Lewis a perfect place

Lewis Hamilton has the perfect opportunity to get back on the winning track in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix after going astonishingly awry in Monaco. Montreal is a favourite race for the double Formula One world champion, a fast track where he celebrated his first pole position and victory in his stellar 2007 debut season with McLaren.

Since then, the Mercedes driver has won twice more in Canada. “I think everything that needs to be said about Monaco has already been said. Obviously, it was a huge disappointment for me and also for the team,” the Briton said before heading to Montreal. “But we’ll learn from it and move forwards together like we always do. I just want to get back out there and bounce back — and I could hardly ask for a better place to do that than Montreal. This is always one of my favourite weekends.”

Hamilton has suffered disappointments too at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with its 300kph blasts and the ‘Wall of Champions’ at the treacherous final corner, and has yet to win there for Mercedes.

But when he has finished, it has been on the podium and his track record eclipses that of teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg. Three-nil on wins, 4-1 on podium appearances, 3-1 on poles and 6-1 on front row starts, the statistics all point to Hamilton. “The racing is fantastic, the city is a lot of fun and the crowds are really enthusiastic… And it’s given me some great memories, including my first win,” Lewis is reported to have said.