Lewis Hamilton still shares the win record in Canada with Michael Schumacher – his qualifying woes will make it difficult to change that on Sunday
One man’s joy, another man’s sorrow: Mercedes celebrates pole position for George Russell in Canada – and wonders about Lewis Hamilton’s sudden drop in performance after qualifying. While his young team-mate celebrates, the Briton can’t get past seventh on the grid
Team Principal Toto Wolff doesn’t understand the slump at the end of qualifying: “Lewis seemed to have the upper hand, both cars were comfortably beating everyone else. But then it was so close at the end, even for George. And it didn’t show at all in Lewis’ time,” Wolff told Sky, unable to explain “why things didn’t go a bit more in our direction”.
“You could see that Lewis was so fast and actually you could have been a bit clearer at the front with two cars, and then suddenly it goes against you,” the Austrian also complains in an interview with his fellow countrymen from ServusTV – and says with regard to Hamilton: “Just strange, because he was absolutely there with the time and then in the end it didn’t come together. “
1:8 – Hamilton’s qualifying misery continues
After qualifying, the Briton himself provides only limited information as to why: “The car felt great all weekend, but when it came to qualifying, that somehow disappeared for me.” Even in Monaco, Hamilton had recently expressed his perplexity about his qualifying woes and claimed not to know whether he would ever beat team-mate Russell again this season on Saturday
At least not in Canada, which is why the score in the team’s internal qualifying duel is now 1.8. Nevertheless, Hamilton, who is joint record pole holder with Michael Schumacher with six poles on his home track in Montreal, explains: “Congratulations to George, he did a great job and this is a big boost for the whole team.”
Hamilton told Sky that he had no explanation as to why, unlike his team-mate, he was once again unable to call on the clearly available performance in the updated Silver Arrow at the crucial moment: “The grip just disappears for me. I still had a lot of pace in third practice, but the tires didn’t work for me in qualifying.” In any case, he hasn’t changed anything on the car, says Hamilton
Shovlin hopes for the podium, Hamilton and Wolff doubt it
The record world champion’s ongoing problems are also a concern for the team led by Mercedes’ chief engineer Andrew Shovlin: “It’s a shame that we didn’t get Lewis further forward, but it’s particularly disappointing for him as he looked so strong all weekend,” says the Briton.
For the race, however, he hopes: “Lewis has a good chance of fighting for the podium, as his pace on the long run in third practice looked very strong. “
In addition, Shovlin believes that the weather could cause unpredictability and opportunities to arise – but Hamilton is much more cautious about his chances in the race than the technician: “I hope we can have a good race despite starting seventh, but it’s difficult to overtake here. And the cars in front of us are quite close together, so it will be a challenge.”
Toto Wolff has a similar view, predicting that Sunday will not be easy for his protégé: “Very difficult from seven. Firstly, we have Max up front, who is certainly very strong.”
“And when I look at the list, there are a few guys up front who will probably be difficult to overtake,” says Wolff with regard to Hamilton’s chances of success on the track where he has already won seven times – another record shared with Michael Schumacher, which he will probably not be able to claim alone in 2024 either.
