As the 2026 Formula 1 season resumes this weekend, Sky Sports F1 highlights the key talking points leading into the Canadian Grand Prix. While much of the focus will be on George Russell and whether he can stop Kimi Antonelli's early championship momentum, the Mercedes team hopes their major upgrade package will give them an advantage over the field.

Despite winning each of the four races so far this season, the field certainly closed up in Miami. Lando Norris suggested that McLaren could have had a better shot at victory with a more proactive strategy. While most teams brought significant upgrades to Miami, Mercedes only had a minor update on their car. However, in Canada, the W17 will have visible changes to the aerodynamics, which Toto Wolff hopes will convert into more performance.

"Sometimes upgrades don't correlate with the stopwatch, so we need to prove that out. I hope we can," Wolff told Sky Sports F1. "It is going to be a development race this season. How much can you bring? Are you limited by the cost cap? All of these things will play a role."

McLaren is not standing still either and has more new parts for Canada, on top of their Miami developments. Montreal was one of their least competitive showings in 2025, difficulties compounded when Norris and title-rival team-mate Oscar Piastri collided late on when fighting over fourth place.

"Our development pathway has lots in the pipeline, with parts planned for Canada and a few more in Monaco and Spain," said team principal Andrea Stella. "We are in the fight, and we believe this sets the stage for a very interesting championship battle for the fans and F1."

Red Bull made the biggest gains in Miami as they effectively had a new car which Max Verstappen gelled with and perhaps could have claimed a podium, if not for a first-lap spin. Do not expect to see too many new parts on the RB22 this weekend, as they aim for the European races next month to make a bigger jump forward towards the front.

Whatever kind of a season he is having, the race weekend in Montreal always stirs nostalgia around Lewis Hamilton. Nineteen years on from his famous maiden F1 win at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve—the first of a joint-record seven at this track—Hamilton will be hoping to get back into podium contention this weekend after two difficult races since the positive start to his second season at Ferrari.

While his Grand Prix on the Sunday last time out in Miami was ultimately compromised by misfortune on lap one, firstly when a fast getaway was scuppered by coming across a spinning Verstappen and secondly when his car sustained damage later around the lap after contact with Franco Colapinto, Hamilton's weekend had got off on the wrong foot in the Sprint when he qualified and finished seventh.

Hamilton said at the end of the weekend that "I'm going to have a different approach for the next race as the way we're preparing at the moment is not helping," having previously finished only sixth in Japan. So what does that change of approach entail? A move away from the race weekend preparation methods might be in the works.

Watch the Canadian GP Sprint weekend from Friday, live on Sky Sports F1

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player