The Briton achieved his best result since wearing red and beat Verstappen in a direct duel. He acknowledged that they still lack straight line speed, but was hopeful: "if we reduce that gap, we'll be in the thick of the fight."
Lewis Hamilton could not hide his smile after the Canadian Grand Prix, the seven time world champion achieved his best result since wearing red and although victory remains elusive, the feelings were very different from those of a 2025 in which he never managed to adapt to the SF-25.
"First of all I want to thank my whole team, last year was difficult with ups and downs to find the right work schedule, this weekend is an incredible feeling to be back on the podium, I'm here with such fast drivers, I love this track, I can't wait to come back," he commented a few minutes after crossing the finish line.
The Briton clearly dominated his teammate Charles Leclerc, who felt lost throughout the weekend in Montreal, and starred in a nice duel with Max Verstappen whom he overtook on track: "It was good to be back fighting with Max, it's not often that we find ourselves in the same position in terms of power and pace, I saw that he had more power, we had more grip I would say, we were able to have a great race and that's what I live for," said Hamilton with a smile, leaving some very forceful words that reflect his current state of mind.
Hamilton wanted to highlight the team's work on a circuit that historically does not suit the SF-26's characteristics: "It was a circuit with many straights and until now that hadn't been our strong point, this gives me a lot of hope, we have to keep pushing to get even more performance," explained the Briton, who also referred to the gap to Mercedes, still evident but perhaps not as abysmal as in previous races: "Together we have worked very hard on this car to make it reliable, it still doesn't reach the level of performance we are looking for on the straights, we still lack that, but if we manage to reduce that gap we will be in the thick of the fight," he stated.
The seven time champion highlighted the consistency he showed throughout the weekend, something he had not achieved since his arrival at Maranello: "That is clearly encouraging, considering that Mercedes brought big changes this weekend but we must also remember that we also brought some in Miami, the people working at the factory are trying very hard," Hamilton recalled.
The result in Canada, although still far from victory, has brought back the hope to a driver who arrived at Ferrari with the mission of returning them to the top and who is now beginning to see the fruits of his work. The fight for the championship is still long and Mercedes remains the team to beat, but Hamilton has shown that he still has plenty left in the tank.
