F1 legend Lewis Hamilton ready to snub major Ferrari assistance after Canada display

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

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Lewis Hamilton ready to snub major Ferrari assistance after Canada display

Hamilton has always done things his own way!

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Saturday 23 May 2026 01:07 Updated: 09:31

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Lewis Hamilton has revealed that his performance so far at the Canadian Grand Prix has confirmed his decision to work against orthodox thinking in F1.

The seven-time world champion held his own against the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in sprint qualifying on Friday in Montreal, only slipping to fifth in SQ3 thanks to a small mistake at the hairpin on his final flying lap.

Having spoken earlier in the week about his decision not to do any simulator work in preparation for this weekend, Hamilton said after the session that he felt the best he had all year – and indicated that eschewing the simulator is 'the way forward' for him.

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A number of drivers use the sim to get locked into the theoretical characteristics of their car, and work tirelessly to eke out every bit of pace and familiarity from tracks on F1's 24-race calendar – tracks which Hamilton has mostly been driving for the best part of two decades now.

Hamilton hails 'best session in some time'

The Brit seemed fairly peppy after the session, despite losing out on third place to Lando Norris by less than five hundredths of a second in a hotly contested SQ3 session.

“Probably the best qualifying session we've had for some time," he said," and just really great work with the engineers. Set up changes the car felt really fantastic from P1 and we made just subtle changes going into quali.

“Q1 and Q2 was looking good, and then I don't know why the others were able to turn it up a little bit more. I don't know, but I'm just happy to be there in a fight. I was having so much fun out there. The fact that I didn't do the sim, and I feel like it's the best I felt all year. So, I think that's the way forward for me.”

Hamilton's Thursday comments on sim usage

“With simulations, I feel that the goalposts are always moving. Last year I used it every week and more often than not, I felt that you do all the work on the sim and you find a set-up that you’re comfortable with, you get to the track and everything’s opposite so you’re undoing the things you’ve learned.

“Some of the ways you approach the corners, you have to shift and adjust. The set-up that you felt was good on the simulator is not the same as the track sometimes. Sometimes it is, so it’s kind of hit and miss.

“I just decided for this one, I was going to sit it out and focus more on the data. There was just a lot of deep diving on through-corner balance, mechanical balance, corner approaches, brake balance, optimising the brakes – which has been a problem for me for some time. That’s led to really good integration with my engineers.”

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