F1 briefing: Ferrari will ‘falter’ says world champion Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton: keep the pressure on Ferrari

Despite losing his lead in the Formula 1 drivers’ standings to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton says he will come back stronger and has urged his Mercedes team to keep the pressure on their title rivals.

Hamilton finished fifth in yesterday’s Canadian Grand Prix - a race that was won by Ferrari ace Vettel - and is now one point behind the German in the title race.

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Speaking in Montreal, Hamilton says Mercedes must do more ahead of the next F1 grand prix in France in two weeks’ time.

He told Sky Sports: “There is no reason to lose control, we just keep doing what we’re doing, keep our heads down, keep motivated and keep pushing because they will falter.

“We have to keep applying the pressure. We didn’t this weekend, but I’m really going to make sure I come back stronger in the next race. Ferrari ultimately have had a slightly better package. All round they’ve been doing a slightly better job so we’ve got to do more.”

Mercedes get ‘wake-up call’ in Canada

The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve has been a happy hunting ground for Mercedes in recent years, but a frustrating weekend in Montreal has given them a “major wake-up call” says team boss Toto Wolff.

Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton finished second and fifth in Montreal and the result saw Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel regain the lead in the championship.

Speaking to F1.com, Mercedes chief Wolff said: “I think this is - we’ve had it in the past - a major wake-up call for every single member of the team. Everybody needs to assess how to improve performance in order to optimise on those marginal gains, because those marginal gains are going to make all the difference. We were coming to Montreal expecting our car to be really strong and we’re leaving Montreal seeing we haven’t been where we thought we should be.”

Vettel: the World Cup will also be boring

Critics have called the Canadian Grand Prix boring but race winner Sebastian Vettel has warned the “short-sighted” detractors that the Fifa World Cup will also have its fair share of dull matches.

Vettel told Sky Sports: “I don’t know why people today are so short-sighted. We had seven races this year, I think some were phenomenal, some were boring. Next week the World Cup is starting and I promise you that a lot of the games will not be exciting - but still people will watch it - but some games will be incredible.”

Miscommunication led to chequered flag error

Model Winnie Harlow waved the chequered flag a lap early at the Canadian GP because of “a miscommunication between local officials”.

Harlow mistakenly waved the flag when Sebastian Vettel crossed the line, but the Ferrari driver had completed only 69 laps instead of the regulation 70.

Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting told Autosport: “The chequered flag was shown a lap early because of a miscommunication with the guy that they call the starter here, who starts and finishes the races.

“He thought it was the last lap, he asked race control to confirm it, they confirmed it, but they thought he was making a statement when he was asking a question. He just showed it a lap early, or he told the flag waver to show it a lap early, so it wasn’t anything to do with the fact that it was a celebrity flag waver.”