Both Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton are eagerly expecting a duel for victory at the Canadian Grand Prix.
So far Montreal has seen the tightest battle so far between Ferrari and Mercedes with the exception of Bahrain, with the top speed of the Prancing Horse proving too much in qualifying.
Vettel enters the race after breaking a 17-race duck without a pole position and now hopes to score a first victory since Spa last year, ending the dominance of the German manufacturer in the process.
“Obviously there was a reason why we were able to put the car on pole,” the German told Crash.net, considering his chances.
“It will be a close battle, we know our strengths and we know our weaknesses. It’s a long race.
“We’re very quick down the straights, not so easy to pass but we will see. We need a perfect race to fight for the win.”
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As for Hamilton, he began by praising Ferrari for their performance so far in Canada.
“All weekend they’ve had really great pace and for a large part of it, they were six tenths up on the straights,” he said. “So we fought so hard throughout the weekend to make improvements.”
And looking forward, ultimately, the championship leader does see limited opportunities to try and secure a fifth win of the season.
“It’s a very, very short distance down to Turn 1 so it’s not the easiest to make places up but it’s a long, long race, so 70 laps is a long way to go,” Hamilton noted.
“Of course, whatever opportunity comes we will try to capitalise on it but yeah, the race is very long, probably a one-stop so looking after the tyres is going to be really key.
“It’s very hard to follow here, even though it is mainly straights, they are very quick on the straights so I don’t know how following Seb is going to be – if I’m in that position.
“I just hope that we are able to be close and have a real race throughout the race.”
The unmentioned name in the duel is Charles Leclerc starting third, and the Monegasque certainly can’t be ruled out either, particularly given Montreal’s history of creating first-time F1 winners.
