Lewis Hamilton believes it is the energy of the city that has driven him to so many successes in Montréal. He has seven wins and six pole positions at the Canadian Grand Prix, where qualifying will take place this Saturday (10:00 p.m. CEST in the F.A.Z. live ticker for Formula 1 and on Sky), and he shares both records Michael sSchumacher. Record world champion among themselves. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with its perpetual stop-and-go seems to have been made for Formula 1 racing drivers who have retained the driving experience gained in racing karts from their youth during their Grand Prix career. On the island in the St. Lawrence River, the Brit in the employ of Mercedes equaled the record of his idol Ayrton Senna of 65 pole positions in 2017.
At the eighth World Championship race of the year, the current World Championship leader Max Verstappen could draw level with the great Brazilian (41 wins) after victories. Lewis Hamilton promptly had to provide information as to whether he saw his own record of 103 individual victories threatened by Verstappen. The Mercedes driver politely confirmed: “Max has done an incredible job so far and he still has a very long career ahead of him, so he can definitely get that far. After all, records are there to be broken. He has a great team. But we will do everything we can to slow down his triumphal march.”