Why "awesome" Canadian GP has convinced Hamilton he's "probably better without" Ferrari simulator

Lewis Hamilton returned to the scene of his maiden Formula 1 victory and made another breakthrough of sorts – his best grand prix result for Ferrari after a turbulent 17 months at the Scuderia.

Hamilton had the better of team-mate Charles Leclerc for most of the weekend in Montreal, though he fell behind him in the sprint race. Starting fifth on the grid for the grand prix, he passed McLaren's Oscar Piastri for fourth place on the opening lap, then chased down and passed Max Verstappen's Red Bull for second in the final stages of the race.

His best previous grand prix result was third in China, where he won the sprint race for Ferrari in 2024. Aside from these high points, he has had a torrid time since his high-profile move from Mercedes, and become the subject of much speculation about his future.

"Yeah, I had so much fun out there all weekend," he said after the race. "Every single lap. I felt like we started on the right foot, came with the right attitude and the car really generally felt great. 

"And so, to come to Montreal, a track that I do love, and get to enjoy a sprint weekend here, which is the first that we've had [here], was awesome. And this is my first second place with the team.

"It's something I've been working so hard, I can't even begin to explain how deep I've had to dig to be able to get to this point, and the work and moving mountains in the background to enable this sort of performance. But I'm really grateful to the team for continuing to hold me up high and support me weekend in, weekend out. 

"It was awesome, absolutely awesome to fight with one of the greats [Verstappen]. It was massively challenging."

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Ahead of the weekend, Hamilton had explained that he had decided not to prepare for Canada in Ferrari's simulator at Maranello, saying he felt it lacked correlation with real-world conditions at the tracks visited so far this season.

He had done the same in China and achieved what was then his best grand prix result for Ferrari, he reckoned, so he elected to follow the same path here: eschew the simulator and focus on a deep dive into data. He will now continue that policy.

"I'm sure I would drive it [the simulator] at some point," he said. "I think what could be good is, for example, going back and doing correlation to this weekend so we can find out where it's missing. Because the test driver will be on there saying it's all… they will only know what they know because they don't get to drive. 

"It's only Charles and me who get to drive the car. So, the positive of something like being able to drive the real car, go back and say, 'This is actually what it feels like. These are the things that we're missing,' and so that we can improve it. 

"I'm always there to help the team move forward and develop it. Now, whether or not I use it to prepare for another race? Probably not. 

"There are just too many risks. If you look at the two best races I've had, I didn't use a simulator. And that's honestly how it was. Pretty much all the championships before, except for probably 2008, I didn't use the sim. So it's not a necessity. It's a tool that can be powerful. 

"But for me, I'm old school. I'm probably better without it."