Hamilton can make history with eighth F1 win in Canada

Currently, the seven-time F1 World Champion is tied with legend Michael Schumacher with seven victories on the man-made Ile Notre Dame and if Hamilton can turn third on the grid today to a victory, history will be made!

But it is a long shot. Red Bull's reigning F1 World Champion and 2023 World Championship leader Max Verstappen is in godly form, enjoying the kind of dominance Hamilton enjoyed when Mercedes ruled the roost, and will be hard if not impossible to beat if he has another day like he had in Spain or Monaco.

Nevertheless, the new direction Mercedes has taken appears to be paying off, the cars more drivable with George Russell starting fourth, making another double podium (like they enjoyed in Spain two Sundays ago) a distinct possibility.

But there too they have to deal with a fired-up Fernando Alonso doing grand things in the Aston Martin, and starting second he will be a tough cookie to crack. The smart money is on the Mercs being better in the race, but their customers also have a substantial upgrade package that has yet to mature.

Nevertheless, Hamilton was buoyed by the result after a challenging and even treacherous qualifying day in Montreal: "That was a good result for us today. The conditions were very difficult out there as we tried to get temperature into the tyres.

"It was very tricky keeping it on track and delivering when it counted. I think P4 [now P3 thanks to Nico Hulkenberg's penalty] was probably the best we could have done though so overall, I'm really happy with it. We will take it and hopefully, we can move forward in the race.

"I hope we can compete with Fernando and if so, I think a podium is on the cards. It would be good to have a battle with him. Our race pace is often better than our single lap pace and hopefully that's the case."

Stats show that Hamilton has not won a Grand Prix since Jeddah 2021, 56o days ago making it his longest winless streak since he famously won the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, at this weekend's venue, his first of the 103-victories he has amassed since that day.

In the sister car, Russell was also upbeat after a challenging and incident-packed session at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday: "We did a great job to get both cars into Q3 today. I enjoyed the session as the track was changing every lap and you were driving on instincts.

"We didn't quite get it together in Q3 but P5 has exceeded our expectations coming into qualifying. As a team, we were performing better as the track was drying and when the rain came in Q3, we struggled again. That's the challenge of these conditions though, it makes it exciting, and I'm pleased we kept it on the circuit.

"I believe we can fight for a podium from P5 tomorrow. We saw what we did from P12 in Barcelona, so we are satisfied with today; it's our best qualifying result since Australia. Fernando is going to be our main target and we're looking forward to the race," added Russell.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff summed up: "A good result for the Team. The margins were very small between most of the field, and you could see that in Q2 with Perez and Leclerc being knocked out. I think we can therefore be satisfied with getting two cars through to Q3.

"You could see the improvements on the second lap in Q3 from Verstappen and Hulkenberg, which did make a difference. Overall though, I think we had good speed considering this is a circuit that isn't a strong track for us and that it was raining.

"Realistically, we will be aiming for the podium with both cars. We will give everything to challenge for more, but we will see," concluded Wolff.

Sentiments echoed by the team's trackside boss Andrew Shovlin: "A really tricky session, but both the Team and drivers did a great job to come away with P3 and P4. The conditions were constantly changing so making sure you were on the right tyre at the right time wasn't easy; we were also seeing degradation on the intermediates so getting through the first session on a single set wasn't straightforward.

"We're looking forward to the race tomorrow and aiming to get both cars on the podium. It's normally good fun here and quite likely we'll see a range of strategies, so it should be an interesting Grand Prix," predicted Shovlin.