Hamilton hails 'awesome' P2 after gripping late duel with Verstappen

Kimi Antonelli took the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal for his fourth straight victory, finishing just under 11 seconds clear of the field after George Russell's retirement from the lead with a power-unit failure intensified the fight for the remaining podium spots. Behind him, Lewis Hamilton produced one of his strongest drives as a Ferrari driver to claim second — his best Grand Prix result with the team, his first second-place finish in red, and the 204th podium of his career. It was also his second podium of the 2026 season.

Starting fifth, Hamilton passed Oscar Piastri for fourth at the opening corner before Max Verstappen got by him on Lap 9. Hamilton spent the closing laps glued to Verstappen's gearbox and pulled off a decisive outside pass around Turn 1 to reclaim the position — PlanetF1 reported the move came on Lap 62, while Sky Sports said Hamilton had closed to within a second with 13 laps remaining and completed the pass seven laps later. He then held Verstappen off to the flag. The two analyzed their duel together in the cooldown room afterward, with Hamilton smiling and saying, "It was mad," while Verstappen — who took his first podium of the 2026 season — called it a "cool battle" and said he enjoyed the fight. Hamilton, for his part, said he "loved" chasing him down.

Hamilton also revealed he had deliberately skipped Ferrari's Maranello simulator in preparing for Montreal, saying it "lacks sufficient correlation with on-track conditions" and that he will "probably not" use it for future races. He noted his two best races of the year had come when he did little or no simulator work, describing himself as "old school" and adding he was "probably better without" it. Hamilton outperformed teammate Charles Leclerc across the weekend, with Leclerc finishing more than 30 seconds further back in the race, per F1 Oversteer.