Mercedes have been forced to postpone an engine upgrade that was scheduled for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, prompting Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton to say he and the team could be in for a “difficult weekend”.

“If the others are bringing upgrades and have fresh engines, we won’t be in a position to fight,” Hamilton said, with Ferrari and Red Bull both expected to bring upgrades for the weekend.

The impact for the latter will be mitigated by a grid penalty for Daniel Ricciardo, with the Monaco Grand Prix winner having had new parts added to his engine due to problems which arose during that victorious drive. He will face at least a 10-place penalty.

However, Hamilton remains concerned of the potential damage his title hopes could suffer this weekend after Mercedes said a “quality issue” has delayed their upgrade.

“It is a power circuit,” Hamilton said of Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. “There is power loss over the life of an engine. All I am hoping for is reliability.

“If I am on the seventh race, with a power difficult circuit, I just want to see it through. Naturally I am still here to win.

“It will be interesting to see whether we can match Ferrari or not, but we are going to be giving it everything we’ve got.”