Who slept best last night: Lewis Hamilton

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Dear readers,

We’ve all done it, haven’t we? Decided to become a better version of ourselves, complain less, start running – or decided that we should spend more time with our parents. Mostly we do this around New Year’s. We “start fresh,” “open a new chapter,” or whatever else you want to call it.

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But as always, it’s about whether we keep our own promises – not about making them.

When Lewis Hamilton spoke about “rediscovering” himself in 2026, it sounded a bit like one of those New Year’s resolutions. He mentioned training – checked. He said he believed in himself. And he promised journalists in the press room of the media center in Melbourne that they would not see that downcast version of Lewis from 2025 again.

“For a moment, I somehow lost sight of who I was,” he said, announcing: “And that person is gone. You won’t see that person again.”

Indeed, he sounded quite depressed at times last year. But there weren’t many moments that could have lifted his mood. His first season in red was not rich in highlights. And Lewis’ frustration probably peaked around the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The person Hamilton promised never to show again called himself “useless” and said Ferrari probably needed to “change the driver.”

This year, however, he has opened a new chapter. He has made some changes in his environment, and also within the team. The relationship with race engineer Riccardo Adami was not optimal. Not on a personal level, but even short excerpts from their radio communications last year were enough to see that something was not working between them.

This is a big change, especially for someone who worked with the same engineer at Mercedes for a decade. Lewis then started the 2026 season without a fixed race engineer.

Not that everything is perfect this year. But so far Hamilton is keeping his promises. After a few difficult weekends, he arrived in Canada in a good mood. After a good start in Melbourne and a strong weekend in China, where he finally secured his first Ferrari podium, the races in Japan and Miami proved difficult.

And at times it looked like everything would fall back into the 2025 normal state: with Charles Leclerc as the faster of the two Ferrari drivers and Hamilton constantly chasing the lost feeling of control.

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Nevertheless, he appeared in Montreal in great spirits. You can always tell by Hamilton’s way of speaking – and on Thursday he was back in top form. He explained why he wants to do less simulator work in preparation and also talked about spending more time with his mother now.

“I’ve been trying for a while to get my mother to travel with me, but she didn’t want to travel in recent years,” he said. “She has only come to Silverstone for who knows how many years.”

“Last year I tried to get her out of her comfort zone and bring her to Canada. I wanted to take her to Lake Louise and visit many beautiful places in Canada, but there were always excuses.”

“And then at the end of the year, she promised me: ‘Next year is the year I travel with you.’ So we were together in China, and honestly, that was the best time we’ve ever had together. After that, she asked me if she could come to Montreal, and I thought: ‘Definitely.’ But I also think because it’s just a great city.”

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“There are great restaurants here. There is a special atmosphere. And I asked: ‘Do you want to bring a girlfriend?’ And she said: ‘No, I just want to spend time with you.’ So we just had a great time.”

“She is really my best friend, so I am very grateful that she took the time to be here. I think the energy definitely makes a difference on such a weekend when you have support from family. And since we are constantly on the road and don’t see family often, it is all the more beautiful.”

“When she was in China, I was also able to show her the team. She loved spending time with the team, felt really integrated, and they welcomed her warmly. She liked the Italians and the food was great. That’s why I’m very happy she’s here and hope she comes to more races.”

After Sunday, it almost seems as if Carmen Larbalestier will have to come to races much more often in the future. At the two races she has attended this year, he stood on the podium each time. And Canada brought not only his best result with the team but probably also his most complete performance.

How sustainable are Hamilton’s successes?

Hamilton was clearly the faster of the two Ferrari drivers in Montreal from the start of the weekend and “won” both qualifying sessions against Leclerc, even though neither went perfectly. He simply had enough pace to keep his teammate under control.

And on Sunday, he also overtook Max Verstappen.

“Yes, I had an incredible amount of fun all weekend,” he said after the race. “In every single lap, I felt that we started on the right foot, came with the right attitude, and the car overall felt great.”

“And then coming to Montreal, a track I love, and experiencing a sprint weekend here – the first here – was fantastic. And this is my first second place with the team. I worked so hard for this, I can’t even describe how deep I had to dig and how much work and changes behind the scenes were necessary to enable such a performance.”

Was it the decision to reduce simulator work? That is probably the obvious conclusion for many. Hamilton himself did not miss the chance to praise Carlo Santi, who will probably now remain his fixed race engineer.

“I chose a different setup this weekend by working through the data,” Hamilton explained, “and I work really well with my engineer. He is absolutely great and I really enjoy working with him.”

“And my number 2 engineer did a fantastic job this weekend and helped me get even more performance out of the car, bringing it into a much better operating window. I was finally able to attack all the corners.”

“And as I said, there were many changes I asked for, and Fred [Vasseur] supported me a lot and also moved a lot behind the scenes to satisfy me. And that is finally showing in my performance.”

Of course, it’s easy to say Hamilton is back to his old self – just as it is easy to downplay his result in Canada. After all, he has always been strong in Montreal, and Leclerc’s weekend simultaneously turned into a complete disaster.

But at the moment, it is little use to make any final judgment. Because it’s not about showing something once – but about confirming it permanently.

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Yours,
Oleg Karpow