Lewis Hamilton walked into Canada's first-ever sprint weekend telling reporters he had 'ditched the simulator' and was running on instinct around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. For most of the eight laps of the sprint, his instinct delivered. He passed Oscar Piastri on the run to Turn 2 on the opening lap, settled into P4 inside the top McLaren, and had the seven-time race winner's familiar Montreal flow.
Then, with two laps remaining, his tyres ran out of grip. Hamilton brushed the Wall of Champions on the exit of the final chicane. The radio was reassuring — 'no, the car's fine,' the team confirmed — but the lap after, the rears were gone. Hamilton locked up at the end of the long back straight, ran straight through the chicane, and Piastri pounced. A lap later, Charles Leclerc followed his teammate through. Hamilton crossed the line P6.
'It was better in the sprint race,' Hamilton said afterwards, the disappointment quietly clear. 'I hope we do another step forward in qualifying to be at least in the top three and then we'll see tomorrow.'
Peter Windsor, in his post-sprint debrief, did not let the result obscure the drive. 'Lewis drove really well, but then his tyres went off right at the end and he hit the wall quite hard coming out of the last corner with two laps to go,' Windsor said. 'They said on the radio no, the car's fine. But then on the next lap Lewis at the end of the straight coming into that chicane locks up because the rears have gone off, I guess.'
The veteran broadcaster gave the drive its due. 'It was a shame for him. Lewis, the result will not equal his performance in that race. But then again, in order to be out there in front of Oscar, I guess you could say he's had to use his tyres to the limit. So it was a very good drive by Lewis in that respect, but he'll be gutted by that because he needs a result out there in front of Charles.'
The Charles part is the political subplot. Leclerc had been outqualified by his teammate in sprint qualifying and was running behind both McLarens for most of the sprint itself. Hamilton's tyre demise on the penultimate tour did not just cost Ferrari position, it cost the in-team narrative — Hamilton in P4 ahead of Leclerc would have been the first sprint Saturday all year in which the seven-time champion has finished cleanly inside his teammate. Instead, Hamilton ended P6 behind Leclerc at P5.
Windsor was sharper on Piastri than Hamilton. 'Oscar then had to filter in behind Lewis, and that was really how that race was,' he said. 'Lewis, Oscar, Charles Leclerc with Oscar unable to do anything about Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari, which is a bit pathetic really. You'd imagine given how good the McLaren is, and we saw how good it is with Lando, I was really surprised how poorly Oscar drove that race and how he couldn't get past Lewis.'
Hamilton's wider point — and the reason his sprint Saturday matters more than P6 looks — is that the Ferrari race pace was visibly there. 'In the race I felt like my race pace was very strong,' he had told reporters earlier in the day. 'So this I'm optimistic for tomorrow, even though it might rain.'
The wall did not damage the car. It damaged the result, and possibly the moment. Hamilton will start grand prix qualifying knowing the pace is alive, his confidence in the brakes is back, and the Wall of Champions did exactly what its name promises — exacted a price on a champion who had been within sight of the result that has eluded him all year.
Source: newsformula.one