(Motorsport-Total.com) – “It was a great weekend for us,” says Lewis Hamilton after finishing third in the Formula 1 race in Canada. After the double podium at the Barcelona Grand Prix, where the W14 ran really well, Montreal was a real test for Mercedes’ upgrade, because unlike the slippery Barcelona-Catalunya circuit, the undulating Montreal track is no match for the car.
Lewis Hamilton can do nothing against Max Verstappen
“It was very difficult for us under the circumstances,” says Hamilton, but Mercedes managed to climb to the podium quite convincingly. Only World Champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) pulled away in front as usual, but behind Hamilton he battled with Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) throughout the race.
“I like being in the car now, which is in a better window now,” said Hamilton. “It’s great for us to be out there fighting with Fernando at Aston and to be on the second row of the grid,” he says. “And now to be on the podium two races in a row is really cool for us.”
Meanwhile, it looked as if Mercedes could even finish second. Hamilton passed Alonso for third at the start and then the Spaniard breathed down his neck. However, he was able to keep this behind him in the first stint until they both stopped during the safety car pit stop.
Wolff: Alonso “drama” in the hole
That’s when the first small scene of controversy ensued, because after his pit stop, Hamilton pulled into the fast lane directly in front of Alonso, causing the Spaniard to stop briefly. The commissioners investigated a possible “unsafe release”, but ultimately did not impose a penalty.
For motorsports boss Toto Wolff, Alonso made “a little drama” out of it anyway: “He moved the steering wheel a little bit and hit the brakes a little bit. He’s very good at something like that,” says the Austrian.
But in the end, the duel on the track was decided: on the 22nd lap, Alonso overtook Hamilton before cutting off the road, and he stayed there. Even when they’ve both been on different tires lately – Hamilton on average, Alonso on tough – the Mercedes driver didn’t stand a chance.
Although he dropped from 5.5 seconds to 1.5 seconds on his soft tyres, he didn’t come close to the Aston Martin. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have the speed today,” he says. “We knew in advance that this wasn’t going to be our best track because we had problems in the slow corners in particular.”
Hamilton shines in the Red Bull Traction
And that was the W14’s big weakness on Sunday: drag out of slow corners. “I really lost out to Fernando and Max,” says Hamilton.
Above all, the Red Bulls’ traction in the first stint surprised him: “You’re in the ass crazy,” Hamilton told Verstappen after the race. But he didn’t want to tell him he had a nice ass, as one might understand in English, but his ass is incredibly good on the road.
“His rear isn’t moving at all, and he’s probably pulling me out of turns by ten car lengths,” says Hamilton. “We still have a lot of work to do, you just need to get the rear downforce of the car and increase the efficiency a little bit. But we’re making baby steps and I’m sure we’ll get there at some point.”
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Alonso, on the other hand, was very strong on the brakes and was very strong in the second turn and the hairpins. “It took me a lot of time,” says Hamilton.
However, he is happy to be on the podium with the other fellow world champions. “I think this weekend Aston Martin went ahead with their upgrade, but we’re also working on something else.”
“Max was a little further away, of course, but I think our pace was a little bit closer, so it’s going in the right direction.”
“Not the car that will beat Red Bull”
But even though Mercedes brought a major update with a new concept in Monaco, Hamilton hardly notices any differences at the start of the season. “There are some elements of the car that feel different, but basically we just have a little bit of downforce,” he says.
“The characteristics of the car are still very similar to what they were at the beginning of the year and going forward, for next year’s car we need to remove a lot of that stuff and definitely change it up.” Hamilton confirms: “In terms of characteristics, this is definitely not the car that Red Bull will beat. At least not yet. And we have to work on that.”
Above all, he didn’t like the high stiffness of the W14 in Montreal. “Everyone had problems, but our car was so tough,” he says. “This is also something I don’t like about this generation of cars.”
And Hamilton also understands that Red Bull is not a static target. “I think Max’s team is already working on the car for next season, so we have to take our eyes off our target a bit and focus on next year.”
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