Seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton is full of praise for his team following, arguably his best performance for Ferrari yet.
All weekend the Briton looked strong, and cometh the race, cometh the man.
Though, like many, he benefitted from George Russell’s retirement, and McLaren’s Montreal malaise, Hamilton was clearly enjoying himself as he showed continued glimpses of his old self.
Already heading for a podium finish, a superb pass on Max Verstappen just a few laps from the end gave Hamilton his best result since joining Ferrari.
“Grazie,” he said in the post-race interview, acknowledging the assembled Ferrari mechanics watching on. “These guys have welcomed me with open arms,” he continued, “and it’s been pretty tough over the past year and a bit, so to finally find our sweet spot and have a good weekend has really been an amazing feeling.
“I had so much fun out there all weekend,” he grinned. “Every single lap, I felt like we started on the right foot, came with the right attitude and the car really generally felt great.
“And so, to come to Montreal, a track that I do love, and get to enjoy a Sprint weekend here, which is the first that we’ve had, was awesome.
“This is my first second place with the team,” he beamed. “It’s something I’ve been working so hard, I can’t even begin to explain how deep I’ve had to dig to be able to get to this point, and the work and moving mountains in the background to enable this sort of performance.
“But I’m really grateful to the team for continuing to hold me up high and support me weekend in, weekend out. And it’s a really lovely feeling to see them so happy, because they truly deserve it with all the hard work they put in.”
As previously reported, the Briton eschewed the simulator ahead of this weekend, feeling that, at certain circuits, it compromised his own approach. Hamilton insists that this was the right thing to do, whilst also believing that he has benefitted from working with his new (interim) engineer, Cedric Santi.
“The prep before… I chose a different set-up this weekend through just ciphering through the data, working really well with my engineer,” said the Briton. “He’s absolutely awesome and I’m really loving working with him.
“And my No. 2 did a fantastic job this weekend and helped me really pull more performance out of the car, getting into a much sweeter place.
“I was able to attack all the corners finally. And as I said, there’s a lot of changes that I’ve had to ask for, and Fred’s been super supportive and again also moving mountains in order to make me comfortable. And it’s finally starting to show in my performance. So, thank you to the team.”