Rosberg and Hamilton resume F1 title duel at Canadian GP

By Martin Moravec

After six races Mercedes have six victories and it is hard to imagine the 2014 drivers' champion coming from outside the German garage.

But such internal competition puts a strain on relations and Hamilton was visibly annoyed with team-mate Rosberg when he lost out at the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks ago, after beating him for first place in the four previous season races.

Hamilton has since tweeted that all is well between the pair but that won't stop him looking for victory in Montreal to close the four-point gap to standings leader Rosberg.

"Montreal is one of my favourite weekends of the year," Hamilton said. "It's where I won my first Grand Prix back in 2007 and I've had another two victories there since, so it holds some special memories for me."

For his part, Rosberg was delighted to regain the world championship lead in Monaco but is aware there is a long way to go.

"I now have the lead again in the world championship which is great," he said. "But it's still very early days and it's going to continue to be an extremely tight battle between us this year."

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has the tricky task of letting two highly competitive, world class drivers fight it out while maintaining some kind of discipline in the team.

"The racing philosophy of Mercedes-Benz is to allow our drivers to compete: we let the boys play with their toys, unless they break them," he told the team website.

"It can be pretty tense when they are racing so hard, but the drivers know we will not tolerate any incident."

While the twists and curves of the city track in Monaco gave other teams hope of matching the Mercedes cars, the long straights of the 4.361-kilometre Gilles Villeneuve circuit requires more power.

"The Canadian Grand Prix is traditionally quite challenging with regard to the use of the engine and it will be even more so this year, given the complexity of the power unit," said Ferrari's Mattia Binotto, engine and electronics deputy director.

"The final part of the track is marked by a long straight and will therefore be very important to not only the management of energy, but also acceleration, driveability and engine torque are aspects that will be followed with particular attention on this circuit."

Whether or not that bodes well for Fernando Alonso - third in the world championship but already 61 points behind Rosberg - remains to be seen.

"We have been improving the car on the aero side, while in the simulator, and we have done a lot of work on the set-up with the aim of arriving in Canada with a better car," said Alonso, world champion in 2005 and 2006, who is looking to earn Ferrari a first victory in more than a year.

Sebastian Vettel has won the last four world titles but is currently having a season to forget, overshadowed by debutant team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, in a Red Bull car with a limited Renault engine.

"We have already solved many problems but there are apparently still some in the crate," Vettel said after failing to finish in Monaco.

Vettel and Red Bull would love to improve in Montreal but in reality it is more likely all eyes will remain Rosberg and Hamilton, as the Mercedes pair continue their personal duel for the title.

dpa