MONTREAL: Lewis Hamilton declared his car to be undriveable after what he called the worst Montreal experience of his career in Friday’s practice for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion, who claimed his maiden Formula One victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2007 and has triumphed a record seven times at the track, managed a smile after finishing 13th in second practice.
But, he admitted, the Mercedes car he has struggled with this season is “here for the year” and unlikely to change or be improved sufficiently to bring an upturn in form or results.
“It is what it is,” he said. “This is not the Montreal I know and love and this is the first and worst time in the years that I have been coming here.”
He said that he and team-mate George Russell, who was seventh, had gone in opposite directions with radical set-up proposals to improve performance, notably the phenomenon of “porpoising” and bouncing that has left them both with acute back pain this season.
The team’s chief technical officer James Allison was at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Friday to help Mercedes find a solution to their problems.
“This is what we’ve got and we have to do what we can,” said Hamilton. “This is it for the year.”
He laughed as he described the experience of driving his car as it bounced, jumped and moved around on the track.
In the closing minutes, with a new floor fitted, he told the team “this car is now undriveable”.
Hamilton said also that he felt relieved to have completed the day without more serious physical concerns after suffering acute back problems last Sunday in Baku.
The seven-time world champion, who claimed his maiden Formula One victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2007 and has triumphed a record seven times at the track, managed a smile after finishing 13th in second practice.
But, he admitted, the Mercedes car he has struggled with this season is “here for the year” and unlikely to change or be improved sufficiently to bring an upturn in form or results.
“It is what it is,” he said. “This is not the Montreal I know and love and this is the first and worst time in the years that I have been coming here.”
He said that he and team-mate George Russell, who was seventh, had gone in opposite directions with radical set-up proposals to improve performance, notably the phenomenon of “porpoising” and bouncing that has left them both with acute back pain this season.
The team’s chief technical officer James Allison was at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Friday to help Mercedes find a solution to their problems.
“This is what we’ve got and we have to do what we can,” said Hamilton. “This is it for the year.”
He laughed as he described the experience of driving his car as it bounced, jumped and moved around on the track.
In the closing minutes, with a new floor fitted, he told the team “this car is now undriveable”.
Hamilton said also that he felt relieved to have completed the day without more serious physical concerns after suffering acute back problems last Sunday in Baku.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsUpdate is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
