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<\/p>\nThe record-holder with 105 race wins \u2014 the last coming with Mercedes in 2024 \u2014 sits fifth in the drivers\u2019 championship, eight points behind teammate Charles Leclerc, who has consistently outperformed Hamilton, through four races in a stop-and-start season.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still (under) contract, so everything\u2019s 100 per cent clear to me,\u201d Hamilton, seated on a white sofa, told a room of reporters during a press conference at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. \u201cI\u2019m still focused, I\u2019m still motivated, I still love what I do with all my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we\u2019re in a really good place. I\u2019m in a good place with my team,\u201d he added. \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be teething issues and stuff that you always have to work on. But yeah, I\u2019m really happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Verstappen, the Red Bull driver said potential rule changes on the horizon have increased the odds he\u2019ll still be on the F1 grid in 2027.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old had suggested this year could be his last after blasting this season\u2019s controversial F1 regulations that increased the cars\u2019 reliance on electrical power over combustion, joking in March that he was \u201cpractising with Mario Kart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, F1 agreed in principle to shift to a 60-40 split between combustion and electrical power next season instead of the current 50-50 balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely heading into a very positive direction, I think it\u2019s like the minimum I was hoping for, and I think it\u2019s really nice that that\u2019s what they want to do,\u201d he said inside Red Bull\u2019s team hospitality suite. \u201cThat\u2019s definitely what I think also the sport needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want a good product in Formula One, and that will for sure improve the product.\u201d<\/p>\n
Verstappen won four straight world titles from 2021 through 2024 before losing last season\u2019s championships to McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris by two points.<\/p>\n
This year, the Dutchman sits seventh in the standings with one top-five finish \u2014 but he insisted that has nothing to do with his complaints.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said it doesn\u2019t matter if I had a good car or not, it\u2019s just the product, and I think the product will improve like that,\u201d he said. \u201cSo naturally I think then the enjoyment will go up as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does that mean he\u2019s committed to returning next year? Verstappen stopped short of a definitive answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes or no, it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m happy where I\u2019m at. I see the team really progressing, and that\u2019s also very exciting to see. And for me I always wanted to continue anyway, but I always wanted to see change, and I think the change that\u2019s coming now is definitely very positive, or at least I would say almost back to normal, so that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canadian Grand Prix is just the fifth of 22 stops this season after Formula One cancelled April races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia because of the war in Iran.<\/p>\n
Scheduled weeks earlier than its traditional mid-June slot, the Montreal race also kicks off a stretch of seven race weekends in 10 weeks after a slow start to the season.<\/p>\n
For the first time, the event coincides with a Montreal Canadiens playoff run, with Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final against the Carolina Hurricanes set for later Thursday in Raleigh, N.C. The hockey craze even reached the paddock, where each driver received a Canadiens jersey with their names on the back.<\/p>\n
Mercedes has won all four races so far. Kimi Antonelli is the championship leader with 100 points \u2014 20 clear of second-place teammate George Russell \u2014 after winning the last three races. Leclerc sits third with 59 for Ferrari, followed by Norris and Hamilton.<\/p>\n
The drivers will hit the track Friday after for a free practice session and the sprint race qualifying. The sprint race follows Saturday before qualifying, which determines where drivers start for Sunday\u2019s 70-lap race.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2026.<\/p>\n
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The record-holder with 105 race wins \u2014 the last coming with Mercedes in 2024 \u2014 sits fifth in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-685362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}