F1: Lewis Hamilton could miss the Canadian Grand Prix with a back injury

While Hamilton finished an impressive fourth at the Baku City Circuit and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed victory, the Brit said during the race that his back was in excruciating pain and afterwards the 37-year-old could be seen trying to climb out of his Mercedes W13.

The 2022 Formula 1 cars have all been hit by “porpoises”, with the car hopping out of control, but Hamilton appears to have been the hardest hit, telling Sky Sports after Sunday’s race: “I can feel the pain you’re hurting.” feel special, don’t express the ones right here and in the end you just pray for it to end.’

And now it seems the problem has taken its toll on Hamilton, with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitting his driver is “definitely” in doubt for this weekend’s race at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

“I didn’t see him and didn’t speak to him after that, but you can see that’s not muscular anymore — it’s really deep down the spine and there are some consequences,” Wolff said.

“At this point I think he’s perhaps the worst hit of all the drivers. But pretty much everyone, as far as I understood from the drivers, said something had to happen.

“The solution might be to have someone in reserve, which we have at every race anyway, to make sure our cars are running.”

Wolff had previously spoken to Hamilton over team radio after the Azerbaijan race to apologize, saying: “Lewis, we all know this is a bit as**t box riding at the moment. Sorry for the back too. We will arrange. Well driven.’

It would be a great shame if Hamilton missed out on the Canadian Grand Prix given his deep affinity for the venue where he won his first F1 race.

Those who could take his place are the two reserve drivers from Mercedes, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries, who both compete for the Silver Arrows Formula E team.

While Vandoorne has the most F1 experience, having driven for McLaren from 2016 to 2018, the more likely candidate would be De Vries, having recently attended practice at the Spanish Grand Prix for Williams.

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