Lewis Hamilton insists he’s taking nothing for granted in Canada despite his strong record and the fact that his 2016 season took a turn for the better in Monaco.
Hamilton expects to have to overcome further hurdles in the course of this year.
“I feel positive coming here but of course I’m conscious of how the season’s gone so far,” he said today. “I’m not arriving all excited thinking everything’s going to go great again, just because we’ve had one win. I’m conscious that there are potholes that we could easily manoeuvre, but could also fall down.
“I’m just conscious of those bumps that are potentially ahead. If we have a smooth weekend, that will be amazing. If we have a smooth weekend in terms of performance it should be a happy weekend.”
Lewis doesn’t believe that he has any advantage over team mate Nico Rosberg in Canada, despite his winning record.
“Not at all, I don’t feel any different. Firstly you should never assume anything. That’s not really the feeling I have this weekend. I know that it’s a track that I’ve always been quick at. You look at the season and there’ll be tracks like I’ve won there, been quick there, this one’s always difficult but I have won there, but I can get back there through work.
“There’s other tracks that naturally come a little bit easier than others. This is a naturally good track for me, so hopefully I should be able to capitalise on that this weekend.
“But the weather’s all over the place, and I’ve had bad races here as well, hence I arrive here probably feeling the same as all the other drivers.”
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
Good that he’s staying grounded a bit
“I’ve had bad races here as well” … I’ve even crashed into a car that was stationary at the pit exit lights.
That driver had a good chance of winning the race, and although I took myself out as well, the loss of 25 points gave his own team mate a boost in the driver standings.
Funny the way these things work. That blunder helped my own championship chances, as looking at the points, Ferrari decided to favour Felipe over Kimi.
Upshot? My first title.
because that was better than me finishing on the podium? sure thing.
No offence, but it looks like you’ve rather misremembered the events of the 2008 season. For a start, you’re not even referring to the right points system – that wasn’t introduced until 2010, so the maximum that any driver could score that season was 10 points for a win, not 25.
Moving on, Kimi only had a lead of one point over Massa before the Canadian GP, and after that race Massa only moved to three points ahead of Raikkonen. Massa had already been catching Kimi before that race (especially in Monaco) and there was only a negligible points difference (38 for Massa and Hamilton against 35 for Kimi) after the Canadian GP, so the net effect was actually fairly small on the WDC.
Rather than promote Massa, as you seem to think, Ferrari continued to throw their weight behind Kimi – you seem to have forgotten that, by Hungary, Kimi had moved back in front of Massa in the WDC again.
In reality, the decision to switch their support from Kimi to Massa didn’t come until far later in the season – it wasn’t until the Singapore GP, where Kimi had effectively fallen out of contention after a string of four races where he’d not been able to score points.
Thanks for that Anon. Your writing style is remarkably similar to that of “F1 fanatic” Keith Collantine. Sorry to blow your cover.
Moving on, I am happy to concede your first point, about the points system in 2008.
As for the rest, the team did indeed back Massa over Raikkonen, under the auspices of Schumacher who from early on wanted development to go Massa’s way and not Kimi’s. That is hardly a secret.
I’m guessing that you agree this proved a help and not a hinderance to Hamilton’s campaign.
Regards, OT