Lewis Hamilton believes his chances of a fifth Formula 1 title remain very much on course despite a rare difficult weekend at the Canadian GP.

The Mercedes driver was won six times in Montreal including each of the last three races before last Sunday but was comprehensively beaten by teammate Valtteri Bottas, with the Finn finishing second behind Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton would start fourth but dropped behind Daniel Ricciardo to fifth in the pit-stop phase as concerns over his engine, which was completing its seventh straight race, meant he was pleased just to reach the finish.

“I’m just so happy because all of a sudden at the start I was down on power. My engine was over temperature and I couldn’t get them down," he explained.

“I just thought it was going to fail and every single lap I was on the edge just waiting for that power to drop away. It kept dropping and coming back and was like ‘jeez’.

“I could have lost a lot more points today.”

Having to push engines so close to their limit is not something Mercedes has experienced too often in the hybrid era with Hamilton striking a tone that has been more commonly heard from Red Bull since 2014.

“It is definitely more fun when you have more engines. The fact that the World Championship could be swayed by reliability, I don’t think anyone wants to see that," he said to Sky Sports.

“You want actual true performance, so the sport is going in the wrong direction, in my opinion.”

Also Read:

• Vettel playing long game on title hopes after "perfect" Montreal win
• Rosberg believes he saw a Hamilton-style quality in Verstappen in Canada

The updated engine which was meant to be used in Canada is expected to be ready for the next Grand Prix in France and looking long-term, the 33-year-old does think he has the upper-hand over Vettel and Ferrari.

“We just keep doing what we’re doing, keep our heads down, keep motivated and keep pushing because they will falter," he claimed.

“We have to keep applying the pressure. We didn’t this weekend, but I’m really going to make sure I come back stronger in the next race.

“Ferrari ultimately have had a slightly better package. All round they’ve been doing a slightly better job so we’ve got to do more.”

Just one-tenth of a second covered the top four in a very competitive final practice session ahead of qualifying at the Canadian GP.

Max Verstappen remained the fastest driver for Red Bull, as he overhauled an improved Ferrari challenge with a 1m11.599s on the Hypersoft tyre, half a tenth ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

The German was just 0.002s clear of his teammate Kimi Raikkonen in third as Lewis Hamilton was a further half a tenth down in fourth, as Mercedes used the pink-striped compound for the first time this weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo set his best time a little earlier than most and was half a second down in fifth with Valtteri Bottas continuing to lag behind in sixth.

In an hour which past without any significant contact made against the walls, Sergio Perez put Force India at the head of the midfield in seventh, as Nico Hulkenberg made up for Renault's tough Friday by returning to a more normal position in eighth.

Romain Grosjean kept Haas in the fight in ninth as Stoffel Vandoorne survived a trip down the escape road at Turn 3 to make it four different teams completing the would be Q3 places in 10th for McLaren.

Brendon Hartley made it five different teams from P7-11 for Toro Rosso, all covered by less than two-tenths of a second.

The two Spaniards were 12th and 13th as Fernando Alonso led a frustrated Carlos Sainz, whose session was compromised by traffic.

Further down, Charles Leclerc was P16 for Sauber ahead of a struggling Kevin Magnussen in the second Haas. Sergey Sirotkin led Marcus Ericsson and Lance Stroll at the bottom of the timings as all three were four-tenths off the rest of the midfield.

Full results can be seen below:

2016 world champion Nico Rosberg believes Max Verstappen showed a Lewis Hamilton-style attitude at the Canadian GP after securing a podium finish.

The Dutchman was in the spotlight in the build-up following another mistake in Monaco which greatly impacted his weekend and showed his frustration in front of the media on Thursday.

He would then go on to produce his best performance of the year so far with a flawless weekend and his second top-three finish in three races and Rosberg thinks he knows why.

"When Lewis is angry, he is at his best. He channels it into an unbelievable performance and I think Verstappen had some of that this weekend, so he gained this extra focus from the word go," he said on his YouTube channel.

"He was first all the way through [practice], great qualifying, and finished third. I think that was a really good weekend from him."

Before that praise, the Red Bull driver would insist nothing changed in terms of his approach to the race and that everything simply came together at the right time.

“I always want a good weekend, and of course I am always motivated to have a good weekend," he told Sky Sports.

“So I think if I would do something different [it's] because normally I’m not doing a good job because I am not on it, or 100 percent on it.

“Some drivers are like that. When they get a bit angry they can perform better. I’m normally not really an angry person. Maybe some other people have a different opinion."

In contrast, Rosberg wasn't particularly impressed by his former Mercedes teammate believing it was another weekend when Hamilton's head wasn't in the right place.

"Lewis – he had one of those off-weekends totally," he stated. "Okay he had an engine thing in the race, but even so qualifying was still off. Typical for Lewis - these phases where he loses a bit of motivation when things don't go well." 

Romain Grosjean has questioned why Formula 1 stewards didn't move a groundhog, or marmot, before he struck it on track during the second practice session at the Canadian GP.

The sight of animals on or around the circuit is not too uncommon in Montreal with the track located on an island in the St. Lawrence Seaway and surrounded by plenty of trees and other vegetation, indeed in 2007 Anthony Davidson missed out on a podium for Super Aguri after hitting a marmot and damaging his front wing.

That was exactly the consequences of Grosjean's incident with nature, but what was different is this marmot had been seen resting by the side of the circuit throughout the session.

"It was a big impact. It was a big animal," the Frenchman said. "It's a bit disappointing because they showed it on TV before the beginning of the session at Turn 13, and that's exactly where I hit it.

"I'm surprised they didn't move it. It's a shame for the animal, of course, and it's a shame for our front wing as well. We are quite limited on spare parts, and losing a front wing like this is a bit disappointing."

Haas later tweeted the photo of the damage, as seen in the photo at the top of this article, and luckily for Grosjean one spare new wing is believed to be available while the other aero pieces can be repaired.

This is important as the American team has brought a substantial upgrade package for this weekend and it helped Romain finish as the top midfield runner in practice two in P7.

"The car felt good, the upgrade is very nice, we've got some good front end there, which I'm very happy with, and more downforce in general," he commented.

"There are a few things we can improve for tomorrow but generally I was quite pleased with the car."

Sebastian Vettel refused to get ahead of himself when considering his championship chances after taking what he described as a "perfect" win at the Canadian GP.

The Ferrari driver moved back to the top of the Drivers' standings by a single point over Lewis Hamilton after his third win of 2018 and 50th in his Formula 1 career, while his main rival slumped to fifth.

However, with only a third of the season gone, the four-time champion knows staying ahead is much easier said than done.

This year there are so many races to come still," he said. "I think we enjoy the victory today. We take the points of course, so whatever there is to grasp we'll take it. But still a very long way to go."

His triumph brought to an end something of a jinx for the Scuderia in Montreal, with his pole on Saturday the first since 2001 and the success on Sunday ending a 14-year run without in the Ferrari-mad country.

"Perfect is probably a good way to describe it. Unbelievable," Vettel claimed. "I think the whole thing, it's been like a cinema - in a movie - with a happy end. It's been a great weekend for us.

"Michael [Schumacher] was the last winner [for Ferrari]," he added. "I would never even have known or dreamt that far that I would have been the next one after him to win for Ferrari here with so much support.

"I think after a long stretch that Ferrari didn't win here, I saw the people around and they were super happy. I'm sure they had a blast, and they will have a blast tonight too."

Sebastian Vettel has played down his chances at the Canadian Grand Prix after a difficult Friday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The German completed just 43 laps in total across the two sessions and missed out a large chunk of the afternoon due to a prolonged setup change which had also encompassed the lunch break.

Despite that, his pace remained poor in fifth place, behind Lewis Hamilton who was using one step harder tyres, and almost eight-tenths off the leader Max Verstappen.

"It was a bit different, it was a bit mixed today so I'm not entirely happy with the feel inside the car yet," he admitted. "Some things that we tried and some things that I think we need to work on.

"Also, myself, I didn't get the rhythm yet so missing a little bit of the laps but overall we tried to go through the programme as good as we could."

At a race weekend where Ferrari is expected to have a possible edge over Mercedes thanks to a new upgraded engine, it is imperative for Vettel to capitalise on any weakness his main championship rival has.

Also Read:

• Vettel wary of Red Bull pace on Hypersoft despite Montreal straights

However, for now at least, he thinks it will be his teammate that leads the charge for the Scuderia as Kimi Raikkonen sat second just a tenth off the pace.

"Today we're not the favourites," the 30-year-old said. "Kimi I think was happier on one lap so probably he's one of the favourites, I'm not, but we'll see tomorrow.

"I think we need a little bit of time to understand the full picture but as I said I'm not yet happy with the car. If that comes together I think we can do quite a big jump and then hopefully the engine and putting it all together will help us to be there tomorrow."

Ferrari and Vettel are known for hanging back a little on Friday before unleashing their full potential when it matters most in qualifying.

Sebastian Vettel strolled to his 50th win in Formula 1 as the Ferrari driver led every lap of the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The German was unchallenged throughout the 70 laps after building up a comfortable margin in the opening stint and saw an attempted late charge by Valtteri Bottas falter after the Finn made a mistake trying to lap the Renault of Carlos Sainz.

That push would actually see the Mercedes driver low on fuel in the closing laps and allowed Max Verstappen to quickly close for second place, ultimately, Bottas would hold on with the race actually being called two laps early after the chequered flag was waved prematurely.

In a processional race, the only driver to make progress in the top six was Daniel Ricciardo as the Australian used his Hypersoft tyres to pass Kimi Raikkonen at the start before producing an overcut on Lewis Hamilton in the pit-stop phase with a strong in-lap and also benefitting from a small mistake by the Briton.

Indeed, it was another off-day for the world champion as he was forced to stop early due to temporary drops in power from his engine and the eventual fifth-place finish marked his worst finish in Montreal other than retirement.

Kimi Raikkonen almost managed the same strategy as Ricciardo of staying out longer than Hamilton and coming out in front, but would just fail to do so having to settle for sixth in his Ferrari.

The battle for 'best of the rest' saw Esteban Ocon get ahead of Nico Hulkenberg at the start in his Force India but a slow pit-stop due to a problem with the rear jack cost the Frenchman valuable seconds.

It would promote Hulkenberg back up into the seventh place that he started in with Renault teammate Sainz also taking advantage to claim eighth.

Ocon would have to accept P9 with Charles Leclerc taking advantage of a big first lap crash between Brendon Hartley and Lance Stroll to score his third points result in four races in P10 for Sauber.

That incident on Lap 1 saw Stroll and Hartley collide through the high-speed Turn 5 with the Toro Rosso driver mounting the barrier on the outside and almost turning over before landing and joining the hometown favourite in the barrier at Turn 6.

Hartley would be taken to the hospital for checks after appearing to bang his head against the Halo during the accident but was later discharged with no injuries.

The only other retirement from the race would be Fernando Alonso as an exhaust issue on his McLaren forced him back to the garage on an unhappy 300th Grand Prix weekend.

Outside the top 10, Pierre Gasly and Romain Grosjean came close to making up for disappointing qualifying positions but would just miss out on points in P11 and P12 respectively.

Sergio Perez was involved in contact with Sainz when the race resumed after the Lap 1 Safety Car which dropped the Mexican several positions and led him to call for a black flag for the Spaniard.

The stewards disagreed and a two-stop strategy then wouldn't work in Checo's favour as he only managed 13th.

Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson followed with Stoffel Vandoorne and Sergey Sirotkin enduring a torrid race as they completed the finishing order.

At the front though, it was all smiles for Vettel who reclaimed the lead in the Drivers' Championship by a single point from Hamilton as the season reached its third-way point.

With a new Mercedes engine and the same thinner-treaded tyres as used in Barcelona coming for the next race, which sees F1 return to France for the first time since 2008, the Briton might just fancy his chances of an immediate response.

Renault drivers, Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg, remain optimistic about their Canadian GP chances despite both suffering setbacks during practice on Friday.

For the Hulk, a gearbox problem left him stranded on the circuit early in the morning necessitating a red flag to remove his car despite several attempts to reset the system from the steering wheel.

With confidence key to a good lap time in the somewhat claustrophobic surroundings of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the German would only be 14th fastest in the second session but he does think the situation is improving.

“It was a pretty quiet morning for me once I found my way back to the garage, but the afternoon was far more productive," he said.

"We weren’t able to run through all of our usual program because of the missed track time, but we still made progress and know what has to be done to get the car more to my liking for tomorrow."

Meanwhile, for Sainz, he caused the second red flag of the day after sliding into the barrier at Turn 7 and leaving debris on the circuit even if he was able to drive back to the pits.

"I was pushing a bit quicker than the previous run, and the tyre was just not up to temperature and it didn’t give me enough rear support," the Spaniard explained.

"We still learned a lot, still feel confident for tomorrow. We have a good baseline to go and attack the top 10 tomorrow.

"Obviously we would have liked to have completed a bit more, but I think we are happy enough to get together a good baseline, a good car for tomorrow. Up until the crash, I think I was feeling pretty confident."

Sebastian Vettel claimed his fourth pole of the season after beating Valtteri Bottas to top spot in qualifying for the Canadian GP.

The German led a Ferrari surge on Saturday in Montreal and in the all-important Q3 session produced an excellent first flying lap to overhaul the Mercedes by just under a tenth of a second with a 1m10.764s.

Max Verstappen had led all three of the practice sessions before qualifying, but once again Red Bull's lack of a special engine mode saw them slip back with the Dutchman having to produce a rapid final lap to snatch third.

Usually the master of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but Lewis Hamilton struggled under braking into the hairpin on many of his timed laps during the session, including both Q3 laps as the world champion had to settle for fourth.

Kimi Raikkonen was fifth in the second Ferrari as Daniel Ricciardo completed a tight top six covered by just over a third of a second.

It was shades of 2017 in the midfield as Renault and Force India completed the final four positions inside the top 10.

Nico Hulkenberg claimed the 'best of the rest' honours for the French manufacturer in P7 with Esteban Ocon able to put a dash of pink between the two yellow machines.

That meant Carlos Sainz was ninth with Sergio Perez struggling to get a good lap together in Q3 and falling to P10.

Haas was hoping a new upgrade package would bring them back into the battle for the fourth best team. Instead, Kevin Magnussen had to settle for 11th while Romain Grosjean's qualifying was over before it had barely begun after an engine failure leaving the pits in Q1 leaving the Frenchman at the back of the grid.

Brendon Hartley enjoyed one of his stronger performances of the year in P12, comfortably ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly who was an early casualty in the first segment.

Charles Leclerc became the first Sauber driver to make Q2 on four consecutive occasions since 2014 as the Monegasque claimed 13th.

He would be ahead of both McLaren's as their single lap pace and lack of top speed did prove a weakness on the straights of Montreal.

Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne narrowly avoided being eliminated in Q1 but wouldn't get any higher than 14th and 15th respectively.

Towards the back, the two Williams again struggled with Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin 17th and 18th as Marcus Ericsson's session was ended early after hitting the wall exiting Turn 9, damaging his Sauber car.

The full grid can be seen below:

Fernando Alonso believed he has been "privileged" to enjoy a long career in Formula 1 even if his level of success hasn't been what it could or should have been.

This weekend's Canadian GP marks the Spaniard's 300th Grand Prix weekend with 36 wins and two world titles to his name, but it is the disappointing stints at McLaren and Ferrari since 2007 that have come to characterise his legacy.

His ability as a top racing driver has never been doubted and nor has his own self-confidence and all that was on display as he commemorated the milestone in Montreal. 

“I am one of the best to have raced in F1,” Alonso said. “I am probably not the fastest driver in qualifying. I’m probably not the fastest driver in the race, or in wet conditions, but I am a 9.5 in all areas, and I try to benefit from that.

“There are some opportunities missing. I could have won four or five championships, but at the same time I feel extremely privileged to have had 18 years in F1," he stated.

“I have a lot of good memories. There have been a lot of ups and downs, but winning my two championships was definitely the high point.”

Also Read:

• McLaren "under pressure" as Alonso prepares for 300th F1 weekend
• Carlos Sainz Sr. becomes latest name to hint at Alonso/F1 exit

The milestone comes as speculation mounts over his future and whether this could be his final year on the F1 grid.

A possible McLaren entry in IndyCar in 2019 is being touted alongside his WEC program with Toyota but the 36-year-old insists he enjoys F1, even if he doesn't like some aspects.

"I'm not bored," he said. "Formula 1 is the top class and we all dreamed of being here when we started in karting.

"The truth is that in recent years, the results have become predictable. Canada is only the seventh race of 21, but we know perfectly well what will happen in the next 14. That's sad for the sport.

"[But] last year I signed a multi-year contract," he added. "I know the team is considering many different options since the North American market is important for McLaren. Let's see how events will develop."