MONTREAL - The tightly cornered Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is a different track than most in Formula One, but dont expect the Me

MONTREAL - The tightly cornered Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is a different track than most in Formula One, but dont expect the Mercedes AMG team to be any less dominant. Vans Store Near Me . The Mercedes duo of three-time Canadian Grand Prix champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has won all six races to start the season, finishing one-two in the last five. They will be the favourites again despite the close walls and hard braking on the 4.361-kilometre circuit. "I dont think it will be different from the other weeks before," a resigned Nico Hulkenberg of the Force India team said Thursday. The race weekend begins with practice on Friday, and qualifying on Saturday, before the grandstands on the island track across from downtown Montreal fill up on what is expected to be sunny, warm day for the 45th Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. It will be first experience for Canadian fans of the quieter, more fuel-efficient 1.6-litre turbo engines introduced this year, which have dropped the formerly dominant Red Bull team down the grid and raised Mercedes AMG to near-invincibility. In the opening six events, Rosberg has two wins and finished second four times to lead drivers standings with 122 points. Hamilton has four wins and one second to sit second with 118 points. Next closest is Ferraris Fernando Alonso, a two-time world champion, with 61 points. Sebastian Vettel, the F1 champion the last four years with Red Bull, is sixth with 45. Some felt the peculiar Gilles-Villeneuve track, which features long straightaways leading into sharp turns, a hairpin and some tricky chicanes, might close the power gap on Mercedes. No such luck, said Hamilton. "Ill be guessing, but I dont feel that will be the case," the 29-year-old Briton said. "Were particularly strong in the straights, the Mercedes are, but I dont know. "Maybe well be surprised this weekend, but the long straights do suit us very well. We have a very good power unit in our engines. Mercedes has done the best job with the engines, so Renault and Ferrari would have had to have done an exceptional job coming into this weekend in that area to be able to keep up with us on the straights." The Mercedes supremacy is drawing comparisons to 1988, when the McLaren Honda team of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost won 15 of the 16 races on the schedule, with the Brazilian taking eight and Prost winning seven. "In a way Im honoured to hear those comparisons because that was an extremely high-level, big battle at the time, but I leave it at that," said Rosberg. "I dont really compare myself to that era. I want to do my own thing." It seems the only thing that can stop Mercedes may be infighting between Hamilton and Rosberg, but even the tension that was building between them looks to have abated since a blow-up at Monaco two weeks ago, when Hamilton felt Rosberg cheated him of a chance to claim pole position. Hamilton tweeted recently "we spoke and were cool, still friends #noproblem." The Hamilton-Rosberg duo already has Mercedes 141 points clear of Red Bull and 162 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors championship. Vettel has had bad luck in Canada in the past, but broke through last year when he cruised to win from the pole, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Alonso. Now hes grasping at any edge to stay competitive. "It will be difficult to match the Mercedes-powered cars down the straights," the German said. "There are also some corners here and weve been competitive in the past. "We were in a very good position in to win the race in 2011 and we won last year, so we have reason to be confident. But we know it could be a difficult weekend. "We know that the corners are very tricky and demanding here and you can make up a lot of time in the corners. Well try to do our best down the straights and try to do better than everyone else on the corners." Another leveller could be the infamous wall of champions, a concrete barrier at the chicane leading to the final stretch to the finish line. Over the years, some of the sports greatest drivers have crashed into it. Jenson Button of McLaren Mercedes is confident that even with the lighter back end on this years cars they should get through the turn OK. "Weve been driving these cars all year and if we can drive these cars around Monaco, I think well be all right around here," he said. The McLaren, Force India and Williams teams also use Mercedes engines, but none has put the package of engine and car together quite like Mercedes AMG. "In terms of the development of the car, it is working and were going in the right direction," said Button, the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix winner who has found himself battling just to get into the points by finishing in the top 10 this season. "Its tough. "When youve been fighting for wins and the team is used to fighting for wins, its difficult when you find yourself in this situation." Vans Sk8 Low Sale . Viewers in the Jets region can watch the game on TSN Jets at 6:30pm ct/7:30pm et. The game is also avialable on TSN Radio 1290 in Winnipeg at 7pm ct. Vans Old Skool Clearance Sale .com) - Nathan MacKinnon scored the winning goal in the shootout as the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. http://www.vanssalestore.com/vans-old-skool-clearance/grey-old-skool-cheap.html . -- Athletics manager Bob Melvin is already starting to run out of superlatives to describe Scott Kazmir.(SportsNetwork.com) - Jeff Samardzija makes his Oakland debut on Sunday, as the Athletics try to complete a four-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays at O.co Coliseum. Samardzija, of course, was acquired along with fellow right-hander Jason Hammel from the Chicago Cubs on Saturday for Oaklands top two prospects, as well as hard-throwing right-hander Dan Straily. "Im right where I need to be, man," Samardzija said Saturday, when he joined the team in Oakland. "Ive been begging for this for a while, situation-wise, of coming in every day to win games." Samardzija has pitched well for the Cubs this season despite his 2-7 record, as Chicago has been shut out five times over his 17 starts and scored two or less runs in 11 of those outings. Hes also struck out 103 batters in 108 innings pitched this year. "Im coming to a team that has done fine without me and Im just looking to do my part," said Samardzija. "Hopefully, I add to the depth of the pitching staff." Oakland took the first three games of this weekends series, including a 5-1 triumph on Saturday. Josh Donaldson homered and Nate Freiman, Jed Lowrie, Alberto Callaspo and Stephen Vogt each drove in a run as well for Oakland in Saturdays win. That was plenty of offense for starter Scott Kazmmir, who let up just one run on three hits over seven innings, while striking out eight batters. Cheap Vans Shoes. Oaklands current three-game winning streak comes on the heels of three-game sweep it suffered against Detroit this past week. Mark Buehrle allowed three runs on 10 hits over six innings to take the loss. He is now 10-6 and has lost his last four decisions. The Blue Jays have lost six of their last eight contests. Drew Hutchison will make the start for Toronto in Sundays finale. The 23-year-old has been solid in the rotation for the Blue Jays this season, posting a record of 6-6 with a 3.81 ERA in 17 starts just a year after he did not make a single appearance at the Major League level due to injury. He had started in 11 games during the 2012 season. Hutchison pitched one of the best games of his career his last time out, twirling seven innings of one-run ball, while striking out a career-high 10 batters to help Toronto to a 4-1 win. The right-hander had lost three of his previous four decisions. Sundays start will be the first Hutchison has ever made against Oakland. Although Oakland has had the upper hand this weekend, Toronto has been the more dominant between these teams recently. The Blue Jays swept a three-game series at home from May 23-25 and won two of three in Oakland a season ago. ' ' '