F1 legend Lewis Hamilton now calling the shots at Ferrari ahead of Canadian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Miami, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

Canadian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton now calling the shots at Ferrari ahead of Canadian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has won the Canadian GP on seven occasions

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 21 May 2026 21:12

Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has taken the initiative over his preparation for the Canadian Grand Prix, after admitting his work at Maranello ahead of Miami was not optimal.

Hamilton has had a good start to the 2026 season, banishing his Ferrari grand prix podium hoodoo in China while cementing some solid results around that to currently sit fifth in the drivers' championship, eight points behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

After finishing 86 points behind Leclerc last year, Hamilton needed a good start to this season, and he's had that, as Ferrari look to build a championship-challenging outfit.

But the Miami Grand Prix last time out was not ideal for Hamilton nor Ferrari.

Despite the team bringing a whopping 11 upgrades to their SF-26 ahead of the weekend, Hamilton could only finish down in sixth, while Leclerc was eighth after a late mistake.

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Hamilton has won the Canadian GP on seven occasions, so is heading to one of his favourite tracks historically with hopes of claiming another podium.

And the 41-year recently revealed the change of approach that he will have for Canada after admitting that the work he did in the simulator during the five-week break in the sport before Miami had not worked.

Hamilton's different approach for Canada

“I'm going to have a different approach in the next race, because the way we're preparing at the moment is not helping,” Hamilton told media after the Miami GP.

“We go on [the simulator] and then it gets to the track and the car feels different when it gets to the track.

“What I mean by it is that I spend time on the simulator. I don't like simulators in general. I was in the simulator every week on the build-up to this race, working on correlation constantly. You go on it, you prepare for the track, you drive it and you get the car set up to a certain place, and then you come to the track and that set-up doesn't work.

“On the sprint weekend, for example, you've only got Practice 1. You don't really want to veer off from your set-up too far, like with a big suspension change. So you stay with it and then you make a change going into qualifying and you've only got six laps to get on top of it.

“So in an ideal world I should have started where Charles was at the beginning of the weekend, and I think we would have just had a stronger weekend from there.

“So, I'm not going to go on the simulator right now on the next race. I'll still go and hold meetings at the factory and stuff. I'm just going to back away from it for a little bit and see. When we went to China I had the best weekend without sim.”

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Canadian Grand Prix