Lewis Hamilton was self-critical despite the result of the season in Canada because he believes that he made too many mistakes during the race weekend even though Mercedes had a great car in all conditions, which was taken advantage of by his teammate George Russell who won pole position and the podium.
Hamilton looked the faster of the two Mercedes drivers in free practice and in qualifying they were also close until Q3 where Hamilton failed to get close enough to his Q2 time resulting in only seventh place.
In the race, Hamilton got stuck behind the slower Alonso, and when he got rid of him later, he was able to keep up with the pace of the leading drivers.
In the last part of the race, Hamilton was on hard tires, unlike Russell who was on medium, and therefore he had no chance to defend himself from his teammate who also made several mistakes during the race.
After the race, Hamilton was asked if his mood had improved: “It’s not much different…” said the seven-time Canadian Grand Prix winner.
“During the weekend, my performance was really bad. Yesterday, some other things played into it, but it was mostly me, and then today, one of the worst races I’ve driven… a lot of mistakes.”
“Of course, if I had qualified better, I would have been in a much better position. So that’s right, I’m going back to the drawing board.”
Regardless of his dissatisfaction with his personal performance, Hamilton was encouraged by the improved Mercedes car which received new parts in Monaco and Canada, including a new front wing for both drivers.
“Thanks to everyone at the factory, [the F1 W15] is becoming a car we can fight with,” said Hamilton.
“It’s a real positive thing for the next part of the season. I know we have more improvements ahead of us. So it will be a close fight and if I put my head together I will have better results at some stage.”
“I think the car was capable of winning this weekend. That’s why it’s not such a great feeling. But we will take the points and keep trying.”
“I could have driven better with fewer mistakes,” concluded Hamilton, who set the fastest lap in the last two races.
