Hamilton: This car cannot beat Red Bull

Lewis Hamilton finished third in Canada but admitted he wouldn’t be able to overtake Red Bull in this car…

Q: Lewis, well done. Your third podium in 2023, second in a row. You are happy?
Lewis Hamilton: Yes, great weekend. In difficult conditions the car worked well, we battled with Fernando and qualified on the second row.

Two podiums in a row is a good result for us. Yes, and in Monaco I was fourth – the gap is gradually narrowing. I think Max’s team is already working on a car for next season, we need to think about that too, but I’m happy to be able to fight at the front again.

Question Tell us more about the fight with Fernando. You were behind many laps – in what way is his car more effective than yours?
Lewis Hamilton: Better performance at the rear, more downforce and speed in slow corners. When I followed Max I saw how stable the rear of his car is, and when accelerating out of corners it immediately breaks into several bodies.

Fernando’s car works very well under braking, in the tenth and second corner he had a big advantage.

Q: Red Bull has won every race this season, are you feeling frustrated that you just can’t overtake Max in his car?
Lewis Hamilton: Of course have. But you know what happens in Formula 1. I can’t fault their great performance. It is likely that they will win all races this year unless we make significant progress with Aston Martin or the leaders have no reliability issues.

Under the current regulations, it is extremely difficult to catch up with such a backlog. At certain points of the circle they are 30 points ahead of us – we have something to work on. But I’m not that upset, I’m looking forward to our progress.

I’m glad we’re back in the fight, and I hope that one day we’ll be able to even out the situation and get back to the fight we had in 2021. And if all three of us fight for wins, it will be great.

Q: You have spent several races in a custom car. What changes did you feel?
Lewis Hamilton: Honestly, I don’t feel much difference from the beginning of the season.

Refinement is underway. Some details have changed, downforce has been added, but overall the car’s characteristics are very similar to those at the beginning of the year, and so we have to … for the future, for next year’s car, we have to really change a lot.

This is not the kind of car that can beat Red Bull in terms of performance. So we have to work hard.

The Canadian track is very bumpy. Many people struggle with this, but we use very hard suspension settings. This is what I hate most about this generation of cars. Previously, the cars behaved softer.