Hamilton losing power struggle

LEWIS HamIlton’S radio persona had taken on a despairing air long before the Canadian Grand Prix was over and the inquest began into the possible death of the mercedes super team.

the brutal fact is that Hamilton started his afternoon at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve leading the world championship by 14 points. By the end, after an engine problem condemned him to finish fifth, he was trailing the winner Sebastian Vettel by one.

Here, of all places, on the track where Hamilton registered the first win of his career, and five more, the mask of mercedes’ invulnerability slipped a little more.

maintaining the lofty standards they have set over four years of total dominance is a mighty hard task — and that is how it is beginning to look seven races into a finely balanced title fight.

Hamilton’s fate was all but sealed in the team’s Brixworth performance factory in northamptonshire last week when they ran final checks on the intended engine upgrade for montreal. they could not guarantee its proper functioning and decided instead to stick with their season-long power unit.

It did not quite have the required grunt alongside the improved engines being run by Ferrari and Red Bull. there was also the question of dubious reliability on the older machinery.

and so it proved in both cases — Hamilton could only qualify fourth and then, early in the race, said: ‘my power has dropped out.’

the team called him in and added some coolant. He had been running fourth but fell to fifth. Why could Ferrari and Red Bull manage to get their upgrades to work when mercedes could not?

toto Wolff, the team principal, offered no excuses.

‘this is a major wake-up call for every single member of the team,’ he said. ‘Everybody has to assess how to improve performance.

‘this is a world championship that will be won by the smallest of margins.

‘missing out on the tiniest of upgrades or making the slightest mistake will be punished.’

these woes are becoming a familiar story — the gold gilt rubbing off. there was the timing glitch in melbourne that cost Hamilton certain victory. there was an unscheduled gearbox change in Bahrain. there was the error in not bringing Hamilton in for new rubber under the safety car in China.

Here, by their own admission, they also failed to bring enough hypersoft tyres with them. none of the errors in isolation is hugely damaging but accumulatively they are. Still, there remains a remarkable bank of knowledge and resource and sagacity at mercedes that will be channelled into improving by the next race in France.

Up at the front, Vettel was unchallenged yesterday, with Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas unable to get close. max Verstappen, needing the balm of an error-free weekend, was a smooth third, with the other Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo in fourth.

Vettel’s win was the 50th of his career, and excited huge passion among a crowd that loves Ferrari, not least with the older Villeneuve being one of the Scuderia’s most cavalier heroes.

‘Perfect,’ said Vettel. ‘It was a really good win.

‘there is still a long way to go in the championship but taking the lead is a good side effect. It is very emotional to be here at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit. a day to remember the great Gilles.’

It was Villeneuve who won here in 1978 and his son Jacques drove his father’s old car around the track before the race. Vettel’s win ended a long wait for a Ferrari victory, stretching back to michael Schumacher in 2004.

montreal has served up humdingers over the years but this was not one of them. no wonder Canadian model Winnie Harlow, a friend of Hamilton, waved the chequered flag a lap early. Who could blame her?

the biggest drama came in the first lap when lance Stroll — the local lad — lost control of his Williams and clattered into Brendon Hartley’s toro Rosso at 170mph.

a story of decline was unfolding at mclaren. this weekend marked the 50th anniversary of the team’s founder Bruce mclaren’s first win, yet Fernando alonso qualified only 14th for his 300th race and retired with an exhaust problem.

mclaren should ponder why they are now further behind the Renault team, who supply engines identical to theirs, than they were at melbourne.

Considering an expansion into IndyCars at a point they should be focused on Formula one improvement is ridiculous.