Lewis Hamilton reaped the rewards of changing his approach for the Canadian Grand Prix as he enjoyed his strongest session of the season in Sprint Qualifying, eventually taking P5 on the grid.
Ahead of the weekend, the Ferrari driver revealed that he had chosen not to use the simulator back at the team’s base in his preparations, instead focusing on analysing data from previous races to find the best set-up.
The adjustment seemed to work as Hamilton consistently delivered fast laps throughout Sprint Qualifying, leaving him more than satisfied with his performance despite falling behind Mercedes and McLaren in the final moments of the session.“It’s probably the best Qualifying session we’ve had for some time,” he said. “Great work with the engineers on the set-up changes – the car felt really fantastic from FP1. We made subtle changes going into Quali.
“SQ1 and SQ2 were looking good and then I don’t know why the others are able to turn up a little bit more, I don’t know. I’m just happy to be there in the fight.
“I was having so much fun out there. Also, the fact that I didn’t do the sim and this is the best I’ve felt all year so I think that’s the way forward for me.”This marks the first time Hamilton has outqualified his team mate Charles Leclerc since Round 2 in China, which the Briton has previously labelled as his best weekend of the season so far.
Asked whether the hard work behind the scenes helped him feel more comfortable in the car, he replied: “Yeah, we worked really hard sifting through the data in the last couple of weeks.
“I found that so much more beneficial in terms of one, I was able to just focus on training and not be distracted, and then the second part is just really going through with a fine comb with ride stability, through corner balances and mechanical balance.
“I chose a set-up that we’ve never used before and it’s transformed the car for me, so I hope that bodes well for the rest of the weekend.”While Ferrari chose to optimise the upgrades they debuted in Miami rather than joining many of their rivals in bringing more to Canada, Leclerc faced more major problems with his confidence under braking during Friday’s sessions.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the second row for McLaren in the upcoming Sprint, leaving the Ferrari pair to settle for P5 and P6, which Leclerc admitted did not come as a surprise to him.
“Honestly on my side, I kind of expected it – I haven’t been at ease with the car,” he said. I’m really struggling with the brakes on my side of the garage for some reason so we need to look into it, try to find something for tomorrow, otherwise it’s going to be a very long weekend because on the brakes, I get into the corners hoping that I don’t end up going straight.
“That’s the main issue at the moment. Other than that, the car feels actually quite okay. Lewis has been incredibly quick this weekend but on my side, I just need to work on the feelings with the brakes and hopefully we can turn the situation around tomorrow.
“I think we have quite a good idea of what’s going on. Whether we have a fix for tomorrow is another story. We’ll try and deal with it in the best possible way and see.”
