Not just the marmots who, like every year, appear as the cars pass by, risking their fur. Lewis Hamilton also showed up in Montreal, who after all is at home there like them: the seven-time world champion has a particular relationship with the circuit on the island of Notre Dame, where 17 years ago he won both the first pole and the first victory of two collections which have since become record-breaking. However, few would have expected to see him in front of everyone after the last free practice session of the Canadian GP, in fact the only one given that yesterday’s two were affected by bad weather. And instead the derelict Mercedes, which also sees George Russell in third place, has finally shown signs of life. Lewis had in fact promoted the updates after the first kilometres: «I feel great, the car reacts to my inputs – explained the English driver, the next Ferrari driver from 2025 -. We are closer to the top.” Now, provisionally, he has even climbed it and in a couple of hours – green light at 10pm – he seems to be able to go after pole number 105 of his career, almost a year after the last one in Hungary.
Sainz at over a second
Lewis will have to contend first with Max Verstappen, who was discontinued yesterday from his Red Bull due to an Ers problem on the new power unit he had just fitted, but who was recently able to take a leap into second place. The Ferraris were much further behind than expected, arriving in Montreal “on the wings of enthusiasm” (Vasseur dixit) but very disappointing especially in the qualifying simulation. Charles Leclerc could not have been more explicit on the radio in his communications with track engineer Bryan Bozzi: “We are extremely slow.” His 10th place, exactly 8 tenths behind Hamilton, speaks for itself, as does Carlos Sainz’s 12th, over a second away. There is little time left to understand why and possibly take action, on a circuit that on paper – more or less like Monte Carlo – seemed to be able to enhance the qualities of the SF-24. In front of which we also find the two Aston Martins, the two McLarens, the other Red Bull and a Racing Bulls, that of Daniel Ricciardo. A ranking too bad to be true.
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