“Our focus will just be on ourselves” Hamilton on Canada success and the looming threat of Mercedes

Written By Mia Wallace

Credit: Formula One

When you’ve won on a track seven times in your career, confidence should be at a high, but a dominant Mercedes may be cause for worry. Lewis Hamilton speculates on the Canada pecking order and reminisces on his Canada race wins.

Despite having a significantly more productive start to the season compared to last year, early fractures are beginning to surface in the Ferrari outfit. Between Charles Leclerc’s series of unfortunate events in Miami and the looming threat of upgraded packages arriving from both McLaren and Mercedes in Canada this weekend, the prancing horse faces a pivotal weekend with mounting pressures on all sides. 

On a positive note, seven-time Canadian Grand Prix race winner Lewis Hamilton seems to be manifesting an optimistic mindset about the weekend ahead, despite early struggles in team performance. 

"It is always one of my favourite places to come in the season, the weather is fantastic today, and my mum is coming this weekend," he said during today’s driver press conference. 

"The atmosphere in the city is fantastic, and to come to this tiny island - and the track is one of the best in the world." 

But is a positive mindset enough to generate performance? Although Hamilton secured a third-place finish in China, his first podium in 477 days, he has yet to return to the top three since. Small but noticeable tense radio exchanges between Hamilton and his race engineer in recent races suggest that the seven-time world champion may once again be feeling some of the same frustrations with the car that plagued him last season.

Even still, he effectively shut down the whispers of internal conflict within Ferrari, standing behind his team by revealing his feelings towards them.

“I feel like I’m in a really good place with my team,” he said. “I’m really happy.”

When asked about the pecking order ahead of this weekend, Hamilton humbly speculated on where the top four teams rank.

"It will adjust each weekend," he theorised.

"Mercedes at the top, McLaren looked good last time out, and Red Bull have made a big step,” He added. “So we are around McLaren and Red Bull.”

Alluding to the Mercedes upgrades rumoured to be equivalent to a “brand new car”, Hamilton wrapped up his thoughts with how Ferrari will deal with the silver arrows if those rumours end up being true.

“Our focus will just be on ourselves," he said. 

Circling back to positivity, Hamilton kept it light by reminiscing on his first race win in Canada. 

"Jeez, it was only my sixth race in Formula 1," he recalled.

"First time coming to Montreal, being a rookie to a World Champion was tough - Fernando was so fast. But I was so competitive, I couldn't accept being second; I wanted to win.”

Who knows? Maybe those positive memories will help Hamilton secure a repeat victory this weekend. We won’t know exactly how the Ferrari challenger fares against their upgraded rivals until tomorrow, with a free practice and sprint qualification in the balance. 

Still, with two races to complete and two top-three finishes up for grabs, it’s entirely possible to see Hamilton return to the top steps.