Lewis Hamilton says there is a fresh buzz and energy at Mercedes after double podium at Spanish GP; Silver Arrows arrive at Canadian GP second in constructors’ championship but predicting a more testing weekend; watch the Canadian GP live on Sky Sports F1 all weekend
Lewis Hamilton feels there is a “new energy” at Mercedes ahead of the Canadian GP after their double podium finish last time out in Spain.
The Silver Arrows picked up their best result of the 2023 season in Barcelona as Hamilton and team-mate George Russell finished second and third respectively, making Mercedes the only team other than Red Bull to secure a double podium so far this season.
This weekend’s Canadian GP will be the third race Mercedes have run their upgraded package – which saw them move away from their original ‘zero-sidepod’ concept – and Hamilton revealed how the atmosphere in the team has changed with their new development path.
“We’ve been making progress in the car. Last race, we’ve all been buzzing back at the factory, the whole team has this new energy and kind of feel that we’ve got a North Star – we know where we’re going and how to get there,” Hamilton said.
“Excited coming here. We generally don’t know whether this track suits our car and the car’s characteristics but the weather may change that.”
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Lewis Hamilton says there is no need to rush his Mercedes contract negotiations and insists he has no plans to quit the sport any time soon
The double podium in Spain saw Mercedes overhaul Aston Martin and move into second place in the constructors’ championship behind runaway leaders Red Bull.
Hamilton has not claimed a race victory since the penultimate race of the 2021 season, but the seven-time world champion feels the steps Mercedes are now making have “felt like wins” and believes they have the best engineers to try and reel in the reigning champions.
“We’ve gone through a tough patch and we’re on the up,” he said.
“At some of the races it’s felt like we’ve had wins, it’s just about perspective.
“Of course we’ve not been in first place, but there have been many wins in the steps we’ve taken.
“Last race as a team to be on the podium with both drivers, that was a win for us.
“We’re just focused, we have that North Star, we know where we need to go. We don’t know everything of how to get there, but we know that together we can get there if we just keep our heads down.
“Focus on the science, the engineering at our team is fantastic, within the organisation we’ve got a great development team.
“I honestly think we’ve got the best development rate – as good, if not better than any team in the sport and so we just need to keep chipping away.”
Russell: Sights set on closing gap to Red Bull
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George Russell is unsure how competitive the Mercedes will be at the Canadian Grand Prix, despite their improved performance in Spain
Mercedes have sought to play down expectations for this weekend’s race with team boss Toto Wolff and trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin expecting the W14 to be less competitive than it was in Barcelona.
Russell is also anticipating Mercedes finding themselves back in a stern test with Aston Martin and Red Bull to be the second-fastest car, but says the main focus is closing the gap to Red Bull.
Russell told Sky Sports F1: “It’s a really different circuit. Barcelona with the new changes is all medium, high-speed corners in Montreal it’s all slow-speed corners. Barcelona is a very smooth tarmac, here it’s very bumpy with hitting all the kerbs, it’s a street track. And in Barcelona we had the three hardest tyres and here we have the three softest tyres.
“So there’s no guarantees that we’re going to be as competitive as we were in Barcelona. At best I expect it to be quite close with us, Aston Martin and Ferrari.
“But spirits are good, we feel like we’re in a good place, things are going in the right direction and mixed conditions so no reason why we can’t have a good weekend.”
He later added: “I think if we are the second fastest team this weekend, that will be a real confidence boost for us going into the remainder of the season.
“But we are not really thinking about Aston Martin or Ferrari, our sights are set on Red Bull and Verstappen. As satisfying as the weekend was getting a double podium finish, by the Monday morning that was history and you are already looking forward to when’s the next improvement, how are we going to close that gap?
“We still probably need to find half a second if we want to catch them [Red Bull] up and overtake.” READ MORE
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