'Yes, definitely' - Wolff confirms Hamilton could miss Canadian GP due to Baku strain

Lewis Hamilton could be forced to miss next weekend's Canadian Grand Prix with back pain which left the British driver "praying" for Sunday's race in Azerbaijan to end.

Hamilton's Mercedes boss Toto Wolff made the alarming admission about his superstar driver moments after Sunday's round on the streets of Baku, which Red Bull's Max Verstappen won.

"Yes, definitely," said Wolff when asked if there is a danger Hamilton, 37, will not be able to compete in Montreal. "He is really bad. You can see this is not muscular anymore. It goes properly into the spine, and it can have some consequences. The solution could be to have someone on reserve, which we anyway have at every race."

Stoffel Vandoorne, the Belgian who spent two seasons at McLaren, and Formula E champion Nyck de Vries, are Mercedes' two options if Hamilton is not fit. Hamilton started seventh and finished fourth but yelled over the radio with 22 of the 51 laps remaining: "Argh, my back is killing me, man."

Reflecting on an #AzerbaijanGP which yielded great results, but things are certainly not perfect just yet ????Well done for getting the most out of the weekend, team! ??#OutRaceYourself #PETRONASMotorsports #MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/4oGcgpfJZp

Most painful and toughest

The seven-time world champion finished 71 seconds behind Verstappen and struggled to get out of his cockpit after the race. He later admitted he had concerns about reaching the chequered flag.

"There were a lot of moments when I didn't know whether I was going to make it and if I was going to be able to keep the car on track," said Hamilton. "That was the most painful and toughest race I have experienced. I was just holding and biting down on my teeth due to the pain. The adrenaline helped, but I