Hamilton: We are closing the gap

Lewis Hamilton finished third in Canada, lamenting on the one hand that the car lacked a bit of pace to take on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, but noted that Mercedes was making gradual progress .

George Russell, his partner, did not reach the finish line: on the 11th lap he made a small mistake, which led to serious consequences, and in the end it all ended in retirement.

Lewis Hamilton (3rd): “It was a great weekend for us, we are gradually closing the gap. But it seems Aston Martin was one step ahead on this circuit when they brought a redesigned car to Canada. But we are also working on solutions that allow us to add.

But I’m glad that the car worked stably, and this made it possible to climb the podium in Montreal, because this is a beautiful city, and every year the stands of the autodrome are filled with spectators – there are no exceptions to this rule.

Most importantly, it is a great honor for me to be on the podium with two world champions. I’m glad I battled with them and finished third. Unfortunately we lacked speed today. We knew in advance that we have to perform on track this weekend, which is not the best way for our car, because our weaknesses are particularly noticeable in slow corners.

There I lost to Fernando and Max – simply because of the less dynamic acceleration coming out of almost every corner. We need to slightly increase the level of downforce at the rear of the car to make the chassis as a whole work more efficiently. I believe we will make it, but our pace was already better today, so we are going in the right direction.”

George Russell (unclassified): “Of course I’m upset. But at first I went too deep in the right (8th) turn, so then in the left (9th) I hit the curb, the car hit the underside of it noticeably, after which he flew into the air and when he landed, the rear wheels broke in a skid and eventually hit the wall.

I only blame myself for what happened, because such a small mistake led to such serious consequences. But on tracks like this, that’s exactly what happens. The team did a great job to get me back into contention, but then I had problems with the brakes, which was also a result of my mistake.

I apologized to the team who put in so much effort, the car worked efficiently, was capable of a good pace, got to fight with rivals, which is not a bad thing, because it gives hope for the future.