The smile finally returned to Sir Lewis Hamilton’s face on Saturday evening after he qualified fourth at the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
The drivers were met with wet conditions throughout qualifying, and Mercedes entered the day having done a lot of work overnight to figure out the issues that had plagued the seven-time world champion on Friday.
It seemed to do the trick as the Briton went on to take fourth – his best qualifying of the year – ahead of George Russell, whom he out-qualified for the fourth time this season.
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Given Mercedes’ dominance in the last eight years, P4 might not seem like a great result on the face of it but, given what Mercedes have been through this year, Hamilton will certainly take it.
“Honestly, I feel amazing,” the ecstatic Briton told Sky Sports.
“I’m so happy, P4’s never felt so good if I’m being honest, maybe when I was in my first year here in 2007 when I got my first P4 in qualy, it felt great then.
“I this kind of feels like that, particularly because it’s been a really, really difficult year and so to go through all the… what we were faced with today, it was difficult for everyone out there.
“I’m really so happy to be able to have us there and put us in a position because everyone’s working so hard, and we’re constantly faced with challenges with this car.
“We did a lot of work overnight, the car did feel… we went two different directions yesterday, just to try and get the information, George’s way just happened to be a lot better.
“So, the car didn’t feel that great throug the session, so I think tomorrow [we] should be a much better position.
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“And we have slightly different setups still for the race so hopefully I can try and hold position at least.”
Hamilton will be chasing his second podium of the season on Sunday in Montreal, and he has polesitter Max Verstappen as well as Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz in his way following a tremendous performance by the 40-year-old Alpine driver.
George Russell, meanwhile, will start in P8 after his late gamble to slick tyres didn’t pay off.