Lewis Hamilton believes this year’s fight with Ferrari is forcing him to constantly improve and be at his best.
That was proven in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, as a mighty battle with Sebastian Vettel saw both men driving to the limit and beyond, with the Mercedes driver coming out on top to claim pole position.
The three-time champion has already claimed he is enjoying a multi-team scrap much more than the past three when his then teammate, Nico Rosberg, was his only challenger with other teams failing to reach the Mercedes pace.
Reflecting on how this year is impacting him as a driver, he admits the wavering momentum is forcing to dig deeper into his talents
“I think I would say more now,” he said when asked how hard he was pushing himself. “It’s a little bit more so perhaps for us because we are having a car that is not working everywhere. It’s a great car but it’s a trickier car to set up.
“It appears from the outside that the Ferrari generally is easier – whilst they’re still working hard – it works everywhere, so it seems.
“If they’re the same level and we’re more up and down all the time, for sure it puts a lot of emphasis on us just pulling together more than ever.”
Talking about how this battle has affected how the team works, Hamilton admitted: “So I think as a team we’ve been closer and more united than we’ve ever been. We’ve been utilising every engineer to the absolute max and utilising everyone’s ability, which is key.
“In the five years I’ve been with this team I’ve never seen such great teamwork and communication, we’re all just talking more than ever and it’s great today to be able to see the fruits of that hard work and it’s not just chatting for nothing.”
Looking forward, Hamilton did not rule out a Ferrari fight back in the race on Sunday, believing it will be a close battle for the top spot.
“It’s going to continue to be a tough, tough, tough race between the Ferraris because they are so strong,” he said, “today we’ve shown we can have an answer if we do the right things.
“Ferrari have great single lap pace but very strong pace in the races. It was a close battle last year and I can only imagine tomorrow will be pushing all the way to the end. I’m excited about it.”
