No stopping Verstappen but Hamilton heals wounds
Seven-time champion returns to podium after Baku agony Dutchman extends lead in championship to 46 points
After the battering his body had taken in a violently misbehaving car, Lewis Hamilton finally achieved a result that could heal his wounded pride.
Yes, it was only third place and yes, he fell another 10 points behind runaway championship leader Max Verstappen, but after months of torrid struggle he had cause to savour every drop of satisfaction from this day in the Canadian sunshine.
A week earlier, he had crawled out of his cockpit like a man who had just gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson, ground down by Mercedes’ bouncing problems. There in Baku, he had looked all of his 37 years. But here on Montreal’s Ile Notre-dame he betrayed not a trace of discomfort from his back, waving to the vast galleries as if instantly rejuvenated. “I’m back to being young,” he said with a grin.
This was the 184th podium finish of Hamilton’s stunning career, but one of the most significant in terms of restoring his appetite for the fight. For months, the seven-time world champion has shown little optimism about his car’s potential. Even in practice on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, he had been a diagram of dejection, declaring his Mercedes “undriveable” and suggesting it was “getting worse”. But as these 70 laps unfolded far more encouragingly than he had dared expect, he was brimful of confidence once more. “We’ve got something here,” he told Pete Bonnington, his race engineer. “Let’s keep pushing.”
For all his euphoria, a measure of perspective is needed. As team principal Toto Wolff pointed out: “One swallow doesn’t make a summer. It’s easy to say, ‘Yeah, we are back.’ But we need to keep working.”
Up the road, Verstappen was imperious, extending his lead in the title race to 46 points over teammate Sergio Perez. Whether in thwarting Fernando Alonso in the run down to turn one or in fending off a frantic Carlos Sainz Jnr in the closing stages, the Dutchman drove in a manner befitting a reigning champion.
For Hamilton, any title prospect has long since evaporated. But he was relieved simply to have a car that made him feel competitive again. Hamilton has toiled to make an impression of late, coming out on the wrong side of several close skirmishes with team-mate George Russell. “There were a lot of races that worked against him,” Wolff said. “It was not his fault, just bad luck. So, this is good to see.”
Hamilton, the recipient of the loudest cheer from the crowd, said: “It’s quite overwhelming to get this third place. It has been such a battle this year with the car, but we continue to stay vigilant, focused, never giving up, and that’s something I’m proud of. We’re getting closer.”
Truly, it was the most Hamilton had smiled all season. After the miseries of Baku, he was wreathed in smiles at this return to the podium.
He knew he could rely on the cooperation of Russell, said to be under instruction not to make life difficult for Hamilton here. But Russell, having beaten him at seven races in succession, was never in a realistic position to attack.
For all his supremacy up front, Verstappen was not without his troubles, lamenting even at halfdistance that he was losing grip on his second set of tyres. There was added anxiety about reliability, with team-mate Perez having slithered out of the race on lap nine with engine failure.
On older tyres than the hardchasing Sainz, Verstappen pitted earlier than most for fresh rubber, finding himself released straight into the path of Hamilton. “Why didn’t you make sure I came out ahead,” he snapped. “We didn’t have the pace,” came the reply from the pit wall. Ultimately, it proved little hindrance, with Verstappen blasting past within a lap, a vivid illustration of the pace difference between two drivers who duelled until the bitter end last season.
Sainz finally had cause for hope when, courtesy of Yuki Tsunoda’s late crash, the safety car was deployed to prevent Verstappen streaking off into the sunset. The Spaniard threw everything he had at the challenge, but was powerless to reel in an opponent of such ferocity.
“The safety car didn’t help,” Verstappen said. “Following is tricky around here but I could see him pushing; charging. It was a tough race, I was expecting to have a bit more pace. But the last few laps were fun. It’s great to be able to push a Formula One car to the limit rather than just saving your tyres.”
It was doubly entertaining given that Verstappen briefly lost radio contact. “It was one-way traffic – he could hear us, but we couldn’t hear him. I guess he didn’t need to hear us too much,” team principal Christian Horner said. “We’ve put a wonderful run together and it’s great to be leading both championships. Max is in the form of his life.”
Sainz admitted he was working as hard as possible to snatch the win, coming perilously close to Montreal’s “wall of champions” on a few occasions, but Verstappen in this mood would not be denied. While Charles Leclerc was impressive in salvaging fifth despite starting 19th, Verstappen is only growing in selfbelief. For Hamilton, any thought of title No 8 must wait. But this moment was, in the circumstances, a precious tonic.