Lewis Hamilton blamed poor strategy and pit stop timing at the Canadian Grand Prix for losing pace and missing a potential P4 finish.
Lewis Hamilton was left frustrated by his race strategy at the Canadian Grand Prix, as he had been running close behind Oscar Piastri—who finished fourth—until his pit stop. Although he sustained damage from hitting a groundhog, it was mainly the timing of the pit stops that cost him dearly.
“I think my qualifying was better, I was holding on until the damage,” Hamilton said. “I was sticking with Piastri, and I think with the damage, I started to fall back from Piastri and we probably should have pitted around the same time.”
“But for some reason, we stayed out and I lost a lot of time and came out behind a bunch of people, then got stuck behind others and ended up in no man’s land.”
“But to come away with this result is a positive. I think if everything had gone perfectly, if we’d done everything right and had no issues, we might have gotten fourth place.”
The collision between the McLarens pushed him up to sixth place, which he sees as a silver lining after a race where he lost out significantly: “I mean, I finished sixth, so I could have ended up seventh without an accident ahead, which I’m grateful for.”
“So the positives are that Montréal continues to surprise. And I think the crowd was amazing this weekend, so a big thank you. I’ve been coming here for 18 years and the support I’ve received has been incredible. And seeing the people who were with me following the movement and showing up in red this weekend, that was really cool to see.”