Yahoo Autos ‘If I get my head on right, I’ll get better results’ – Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton says he produced a “really poor performance” during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend and needs to refocus mentally to maximize his results this season.
Mercedes has endured a tough start to 2024 and Hamilton had already announced his move to Ferrari for next year before the current season even began. Recent races have brought improvements with the car that have made Mercedes more competitive but it was George Russell on pole position while Hamilton qualified seventh, and the seven-time world champion was still unhappy with his own driving despite recovering to finish fourth directly behind Russell in Montreal.
“Over the weekend just a really poor performance from myself,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “[On Saturday] some other things came into it, mostly myself, and then one of the worst races that I’ve driven, lots of mistakes, but of course if I’d qualified better I would’ve been in a much better position so it is what it is.
“I will go back to the drawing board. On a positive note, big, big thank you to everyone back at the factory for progressing this car, because it is becoming a car we can fight with. That is a real positive going into the next part of the season, I know we’ll have more upgrades coming along the way so it is going to be a close battle.
“If I get my head on right, I’ll get better results at some stage.”
After the race finished, team principal Toto Wolff took to team radio to encourage Hamilton but the messages were met with silence at the time, with Hamilton stating the overall car pace was another reason he was so frustrated with his own performance.
“I think this weekend the car was capable of winning,” Hamilton said. “That’s why it is not such a great feeling, but we’ll take the points and keep moving, keep trying.
“On one side I’m happy that we’re progressing and improving, that’s the positives to take from this weekend. It was a pretty disastrous afternoon [in qualifying] and then the race was pretty shocking from my side. So I can’t say that I’m particularly happy with it.
“I could have just driven better. Less mistakes … I was stuck behind Fernando [Alonso] so there was nothing I could really do there, but lots of mistakes over the weekend as a whole. But lots of positives to take in terms of performance and trying to improve for the next race.”
