Right after having his heart crushed and his hopes dashed to the ground all thanks to the debatable and unsettling events as seen at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton’s F1 career nosedived in some ways.
Forget the fact that his last race win in the highest echelons of motor racing came back in 2021 (Saudi Arabia), the very year where Verstappen’s indomitable rise contained Hamilton’s menace, Lewis hasn’t really been in the happiest of spaces in the top flight of motor racing ever since.
In 2022, he was plagued by a really inefficient car, one that suffered thanks to a lack of downforce and didn’t really have the race pace necessary to top the field or ace a Grand Prix. Hamilton was often found complaining about proposing, a situation where the car seemed to bounce a great deal more than was normally expected.
His plight exacerbated by tracks punctuated by longer straights, which led to more bounce on the car than he would have liked or dealt with!
And then in the months that followed, Lewis Hamilton was further marred by poor qualifying results, where he was often outperformed by a much younger teammate in George Russell. The man from Kings Lynn did drive like one. Russell got his famous Spa podium a couple of seasons ago and later, his stellar win at São Paulo in Brazil, the famed Senna-land. All Hamilton did was watch in admiration albeit suffering quietly.
But in 2023, another year where the true great of the sport went winless, Hamilton was able to find some form in the wake of a memorable drive at Canada.
Source- Twitter
A race that the fan remembers, to this day, by and large for the mesmerising win of Max Verstappen and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finishing with a strong second saw a true legend of our times grabbing the third step of the podium.
Hamilton, despite the evident pains and travails of the last season, managed with a fighting third at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles de Villeneuve.
More than the smiles, the spot of relief was there to be seen on Lewis Hamilton’s face, an exemplary name in Formula 1, a force who has to his credit a century of race wins (let that not be forgotten).
But while Hamilton’s recent F1 troubles are quite visible given he’s yet to win a race in his last season with the famed Mercedes team, what can’t be blanketed is his rather incredible record at Canada.
If there a track where Hamilton actually made winning a habit, much like the results demonstrated at Silverstone or Spain in the past, then it’s here in Canada.
We remember Hamilton’s valance in his maiden F1 season, which if you think about it, was seventeen years back in the day. We truly relish his great rivalry with German multiple world champion, Sebastian Vettel.
We also regard Hamilton for always praising Kimi and for the grade with which he congratulated Verstappen in 2021, despite emerging an embattled figure, utterly forlorn under the night skies of Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina.
But what we ought to love and truly regard is just how strong Lewis Hamilton has been at Canada.
Factually speaking, the driver to have recorded the most number of wins at the Canadian Grand Prix is none other than Sir Lewis Hamilton.
With no fewer than 7 wins to his name, Hamilton is tied with the legendary Schumacher for the most victories at Canada.
Such an impressive feat. And while Hamilton’s troubles are still far from over in that he’s contesting not just nineteen other men on the challenging grid but also a tricky car from the Woking-based outfit, he should find some encouragement given his iconic record at Canada.
His mega wins, several of which quite simply decimated his opponents, whether Rosberg or Bottas, have only bolstered his presence as a mighty fine F1 driver.
The last time that Hamilton actually reigned supreme at the Jim Carrey-land was back in 2019. But he’s still one of the two drivers present on the current grid to have the maximum race experience of having contested here in Canada; the other man being a certain Fernando Alonso.
So what could be a better venue than the land of icy waters and the great Gilles Villeneuve for Hamilton to rediscover that lost touch?
A podium loading soon, then?