In the end, Ferrari even had to be humiliated. Lewis Hamilton was overtaken by Nico Hülkenberg at the Formula 1 race in Spain almost two weeks ago-the car that had previously won the fewest points from everyone and formed the bottom of the field.
Barcelona was a real horror for the British. The Ferrari SF-25 felt like “the worst car” for him that he had ever driven. “At the end of the race I only thought: ‘My god, I’ve never experienced something so bad for so long during a race.'”
Accordingly, his answers in the interviews after the race had also failed. Only then did he go to the engineers and found that there was a problem with the car. “It was a certain relief because I didn’t feel that bad afterwards,” says Hamilton.
What the problem was, Ferrari made it a big secret. “Unfortunately, the team said yesterday that we shouldn’t talk too much about it,” the seven -time world champion blocked.
Team colleague Charles Leclerc also says that he cannot go into it in more detail. He also hit the problem in the second half of the race: “It started a little in the second stint. In the last stint we had to deal with several problems,” he says. “It was a difficult race.”
“However, it was positive that the first stint was very good when it comes to the pace. Despite the first problems, the second stint was not so bad. In the last stint, we know why it was,” said Monegasse, who had nevertheless made it onto the podium and believes that the problem should not appear again this weekend in Canada.
In Canada chances for victory?
How strong the Scuderia will be in Montreal will be shown. There are no upgrades for the SF -25, but Leclerc has great hopes for a result similar to in Spain – maybe even a victory.
Because the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve could accommodate its vehicle. “Some of me say that it is very important to run over the boundary stones here in Montreal. We had an advantage in Monaco. Our general vehicle pace is not as strong as that of McLaren, but because our car is good with the circle, we were able to reduce the distance a bit,” he says.
“It is similar here, but less extreme than in Monaco. So I don’t expect that we are at the McLaren level. But I hope we can reduce the distance and get closer,” said Leclerc. “And if that succeeds, we may put you under pressure and hope for a win. A victory is currently unrealistic on paper, but another podium would be a realistic goal.”
Hamilton is not desperately looking for success
A strong result could also be used by Hamilton, who has never been on the podium with Ferrari, but is a record winner in Canada with seven successes. But Hamilton himself does not put pressure on this: “Of course a good weekend is always nice, but I don’t have the feeling that I need one desperately,” he says.
It is more important to him to work well with the team and to get in the mood for the car, which has been a problem so far. “The way the car is coordinated here completely differs from all the years before that I have driven here,” says Hamilton.
“And then there are discussions with the engineers about changes where I sometimes have to say: ‘Wait a minute, that doesn’t really make sense.’ I have always done this here in the last 17, 18 years, and it often worked.
“The car has a tight working window, and we try to set it optimally on all routes – all teams are currently struggling. I hope that we can be strong this weekend,” said the Brit.
Tight duel with Mercedes
Despite a moderate season so far, Ferrari is currently in second place behind McLaren. With 165 points, the lead over Mercedes (159) and Red Bull (144) is only scarce. Especially on the duel with Mercedes there is currently a big focus, with both teams having different strengths and weaknesses according to Leclerc.
“It is strange, we have very opposite problems. They are strong in qualifying, but they have difficulties in the race. We are weak in qualifying, but in the race. At the moment, the one will win the duel that first fixes his weaknesses in the respective sessions,” he says, and has the feeling that Mercedes is a little fluctuating than Ferrari.
“We kept our gap to the leaders more or less constant, while Mercedes already had very good, but also very bad weekends. We are making small progress in the right direction. In the end, the updates will probably be decisive. But I can’t say how we will develop with it.”