Hamilton podium? Verstappen gets banned? Bold predictions for Canadian GP

Champagne celebrations for Lewis Hamilton

By Michelle Foster

Never in a million years – at least that’s how long it feels if you are a Ferrari fan – did I think I’d predict a Lewis Hamilton podium in Montreal as a ‘bold’ prediction but here we are.

Some call it reality. I call it that life of a Ferrari fan.

Hamilton heads to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as a seven-time Canadian Grand Prix winner (also a seven-time F1 World Champion but that’s a completely different category of disappointment), his tally equalling that of Michael Schumacher. Ferrari, meanwhile, have 14 Canadian GP victories.

But this prediction isn’t about a race win, it’s not even about a P2.

It’s just a podium. A simple P3 fulfills not only my prediction but Hamilton’s somewhat muted expectations in his first season as a Ferrari driver.

The fast, low-downforce circuit could suit Ferrari’s SF-25, which is lacking in downforce, although that could be negated by tyre wear, which has been a problem this season.

But either way, confidence is key around the Montreal circuit and with his seven wins, Hamilton has to be feeling buoyed about his chances even in the midst of his Ferrari struggles.

Max Verstappen to get back on top after Spanish GP penalty

By Henry Valantine

Now, after an incident which he later admitted should not have taken place in Barcelona, Max Verstappen will be looking to get back on form in Montreal.

He has previous, too, having won the last three Canadian grands prix.

While this year is a different proposition entirely, given the performance advantage McLaren appears to have over the chasing pack, a Verstappen with a point to prove is one to be watched.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve often throws up some unpredictability into the equation with opportunities to overtake coupled with the chance of mixed conditions.

In any case this weekend, I would expect Verstappen to be in the mix, but if any rain enters the equation that will only serve to add to his potential on Sunday.

Nico Hulkenberg finally banishes his podium record

By Jamie Woodhouse

Right, let’s go bold, really bold.

It hasn’t happened in 236 starts, but the 237th produces Nico Hulkenberg’s first podium.

The upgraded Sauber with Hulkenberg at the wheel looked a true step forward in Barcelona, a track which often champions the best cars, and with a bit of drama and surprise never far away in Montreal, something, somewhere, tells me Hulkenberg is about to go from a mighty P5, to a sensational P3, and take to the podium for the first time at long last.

This is, of course, a track where Hulkenberg has pulled off incredible performances before.

Who will ever forget his one-lap heroics here in 2023, when he uncorked a time which would have been good enough for the front row – albeit in the rain – had it not been for a grid penalty.

Anyway, in less than a week, you will either be laughing at me uncontrollably or doffing your hat!

George Russell to lay the ghosts of Canada 2024 to rest

By Oliver Harden

Last year’s Canadian Grand Prix did not reflect too well on George Russell.

Starting from pole position on a rainy afternoon, he was scrappy and error prone as the race slowly ran away from him and looked crestfallen to finish third on a day he probably should have won.

None of that this year.

With the best – and certainly the most compliant – Mercedes he’s had since arriving at the team in 2022, it seems he no longer feels the need to overreach.

And that is allowing the results (four podiums across the first nine races) to come to him instead – a subtle yet significant change – Russell is finally blossoming into an elite F1 driver.

Victory here, a circuit with a habit of throwing up surprises, would be a fitting reflection of how far Slideshow George has come over the last 12 months.

Isack Hadjar to take a maiden F1 podium

By Thomas Maher

The French driver is having a tremendous year, isn’t he?

That’s why, at a track that often produces a little bit of chaos and can spring up a surprise, I think he may just put the Racing Bulls car where it doesn’t belong and steal a podium.

No, I don’t think it’ll happen on pure merit – some fortune and circumstance will play a part – but Hadjar will keep his nose clean to score the team’s first podium in its current guise, and the first for the Faenza-based squad since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (as AlphaTauri).

Max Verstappen picks up one-race ban

By Mat Coch

Just one point away from a weekend off, Max Verstappen heads to Canada in a precarious position – and even should he survive penalty-free in Montreal, he’s then got the Austrian Grand Prix to get through, too.

Yet despite the looming threat of a ban, it’s difficult to imagine the feisty Dutchman changing his approach.

If there’s a move to be made, he’ll make it and worry about whatever fallout there may be later.

Fuelling that is the unimaginable concept of Verstappen being bullied out of a move for fear of a penalty. He’s not that kind of driver.

I don’t for a moment believe he’d deliberately pick up a penalty, but with such an out-and-out, uncompromising racer it’s absolutely within the realms of possibility that he finds himself on the wrong side of the stewards.