Will Red Bull achieve a milestone victory and Max Verstappen match Ayrton Senna's win tally? Who will be their closest challengers? And will Canada see a home-favourite podium?watch the Canadian GP from this Friday with all sessions live on Sky Sports F1
Thursday 15 June 2023 18:08, UK
Formula 1 heads to Montreal for the Canadian GP with Red Bull seeking a milestone victory and debate about how the pecking order will shape up behind.
Here Sky Sports F1 examines some of the talking points heading into the weekend...
Red Bull have claimed seven wins out of seven so far in F1 2023 and victory again in Montreal will see them notch their 100th in Formula 1.
Given that they have won 17 of the last 18 Grands Prix - a run stretching back to last July's French GP with the Sao Paulo GP being the one time a Red Bull driver hasn't stood on the top step - and they continued their 2023 run of winning by at least 20 seconds from the next car in Spain, it will be something of a shock if Red Bull do not bring up their ton this weekend.
Championship leader Max Verstappen can also hit a milestone of his own with victory.
The Dutchman sits on 40 F1 career wins after winning the last three races and another victory will see him match Ayrton Senna's tally of 41 wins and put him equal fifth in the all-time standings.
Meanwhile team-mate Sergio Perez will just be looking to getting back in the mix for wins after two disastrous races for his title ambitions.
The hot topic off track remains Lewis Hamilton's future and his ongoing talks with Mercedes over a contract extension.
The seven-time world champion's current contract expires at the end of the season, and after leaving most of the negotiations to his management team, Hamilton met with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff in the days after the Spanish GP to iron out the finer details.
But an agreement is still yet to be reached it would appear, with Wolff saying on Monday they were hoping to resolve Hamilton's future before this weekend's Grand Prix.
"It is going to happen soon, and we are talking more days than weeks," Wolff told CNBC's Squawk on the Street programme.
"We are trying hard [to get it done before the Canadian Grand Prix]. I will see him today and maybe we will talk about it.
"We have such a good relationship that we dread the moment that we need to talk about money."
Whether an announcement on an extension will come this weekend remains to be seen, but Hamilton is sure to be questioned about it when he faces the media on Thursday afternoon.
On track, Mercedes saw a big upturn in performance last time out at the Spanish GP with their updated W14 delivering their best result of the season.
Hamilton and team-mate George Russell both finished on the podium - the latter coming through the field after starting 12th on the grid - and said their car had felt better than anything they'd driven so far during F1's new technical regulations.
The question now is whether Mercedes' improvement, which put them ahead of Aston Martin and Ferrari on merit, was track-specific or if they are now cemented as Red Bull's closest challengers.
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is almost a complete contrast to the high-speed Barcelona track - featuring multiple chicanes, big braking zones and a bumpy surface is bumpy in certain areas - and the Silver Arrows are expecting a tougher weekend.
Mercedes' trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: "What do we expect from Montreal? We are thinking it will be more along the lines of some of the earlier races where we were definitely in the bunch with Ferrari, with Aston, and now Alpine look to have joined that group.
"But it's great racing there. It will be good fun and we are certainly going to be fighting to find every little bit of performance we can because the way the grid stacks up now you can be P2 or you can be P10, and there are only a few tenths in it.
"We are looking forward to more exciting racing but certainly we are aware that Canada is likely to be a bigger challenge than the Sunday we just had in Barcelona."
Aston Martin's stunning start to the season hit something of a buffer last time out in Spain as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll came home seventh and sixth respectively and were never able to challenge for a podium position.
The result saw Aston Martin fall behind Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship, but the team are bringing fresh updates to the AMR23 this weekend which team principal Mike Krack hopes will deliver a "step" in performance.
And if that puts Aston Martin back as Red Bull's closest competitors then it could open the door for Stroll to end a 27-year wait for a Canadian to finish on the podium in the Canadian GP since Jacques Villeneuve finished second in 1996.
While Alonso has picked up five podium finishes already this season, Stroll is yet to finish in the top three but did finally manage to get the better of his team-mate in Spain.
And team owner Lawrence Stroll is bullish about the chances of seeing both drivers on the podium at his home Grand Prix.
He told Reuters: "Those are exactly the plans. Hopefully get two cars on the podium.
"I'm extremely confident. I believe the car will be very strong around the Montreal circuit, it suits our car well...so I'm really looking forward to going home and really looking forward to a great race."
He added: "I think he (Lance) demonstrated in Barcelona he's now starting, it took six or seven races, to feel better (after injuring his wrists in a pre-season cycling accident)...I believe they (the two drivers) will be equal by the end of the season."
Ferrari arrive in Montreal on the back of their World Endurance Championship team claiming victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
For their F1 team, the Spanish GP continued their difficult start to 2023 as Carlos Sainz found himself going from second on the grid to a fifth-place finish. Charles Leclerc meanwhile endured another nightmare weekend as he only qualified 19th and failed to finish in the points on race day.
Ferrari, and Leclerc in particular, will be hoping for a clean weekend at a track that should suit, in theory, their SF23 car.
The Monegasque driver picked up the Italian team's only podium of the season in Baku - which like Montreal has long straights and big braking zones - but has otherwise not finished better than sixth and sits on 42 points in the Drivers' Championship.
Ferrari enjoyed a strong weekend in Canada last year as Sainz finished second and Leclerc worked his way up to fifth after starting 19th due to engine penalties.
And team principal Fred Vasseur is drawing on last year's performance and the improved consistency upgrades to the SF23 brought in Spain for a better weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
He said: "We come to Canada knowing that there is still room for improvement in terms of race pace with the SF-23. However, the upgrades introduced at the last round in Spain meant that the car behaved more consistently in the race in Barcelona.
"Last year in Montreal, both our drivers raced really well, with Carlos finishing second after putting the winner under pressure all the way to the flag, while Charles fought his way through the field from the back row of the grid to claim a fifth place finish.
"Ferrari has always enjoyed plenty of support in Canada and we hope to deliver a strong performance for our tifosi this weekend."
Friday June 16
6pm: Canadian GP Practice One (session starts at 6.30pm)
7.45pm: The F1 Show
9.45pm: Canadian GP Practice Two (session starts at 10pm)
Saturday June 17
5.15pm: Canadian GP Practice Three (session starts at 5.30pm)
8pm: Canadian GP Qualifying build-up
9pm: Canadian GP Qualifying
11pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday June 18
5.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Canadian GP build-up
7pm: THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
9pm: Chequered Flag Canadian GP reaction
10pm: Ted's Notebook
F1 returns in Canada from June 16-18 with all sessions live on Sky Sports F1, including race coverage from 5.30pm on Sunday June 18
