The Mercedes W15 shone around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Hamilton comfortably topping the final practice session to take momentum into qualifying, yet it was Mercedes team-mate George Russell who earned pole, Hamilton forced to settle for the P7 grid place.
Despite finishing in P4 after losing to Russell in a late struggle for the final podium spot, Hamilton was briefly in the running for the Grand Prix of Canada on Sunday due to the race’s unpredictable wet and dry conditions.
However, after his prospects of qualifying were ruined, Hamilton blamed the Mercedes tyre blankets, saying they were continuously lowering his tires’ performance, temperature, and heat, which he was unable to restore on the track.
When qualifying rolled around, he claimed that his tires were consistently below room temperature every time he left the garage, despite the fact that they had been operating OK all weekend.
“I couldn’t change the tires after that because every set was two or three degrees below what they should have been, and you can’t catch it up. We need to give that a serious investigation because, well, something happened to the blankets.
Hamilton was not happy with his performance on race day, even though he was so close to his first podium of the season. He thought back on it and it was truly one of his worst performances.
Hamilton also stated that he needs to get his “head on right” in order to improve his results, given Mercedes’ significant improvement in Canada.
“It was just over the weekend a really poor performance from myself,” he told Sky F1.
“Today was one of the worst races I have ever driven, but yesterday there were some other factors as well. Simply said, a lot of errors. Of course if I’d qualified better, I would have been in a much better position. So it is what it is. I will go back to the drawing board.
“The real positive heading into this next part of the season is that it’s becoming a car we can fight with. On the positive note, big big thanks to everyone back at the factory for progressing this car. I know we have some more upgrades coming, they’re on the way, so it’s going to be a close battle.”
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