Hamilton revels in Verstappen battle 'with one of the greats'

Lewis Hamilton said it was “absolutely awesome to fight with one of the greats” as he overtook Max Verstappen late on to finish second in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Verstappen passed Hamilton in the first stint of Sunday’s race, but after George Russell’s retirement, the pair were running second and third with Hamilton closing back in after the pit stops. With seven laps remaining, Hamilton went around the outside of Verstappen approaching the braking zone for Turn 1, securing his best result since joining Ferrari.

“It was awesome,” Hamilton said. “Absolutely awesome to fight with one of the greats. It was massively challenging. I think our cars are relatively close, I would say. You see him in qualifying, we were relatively close. And I think whilst we’re probably a little bit quicker through the corners, everything you gain in the corner, they gain on the straight. And very challenging behind him.

"I lost a bit of time, he was quicker at the beginning of the race, and then once he got onto the medium, I was able to hunt him down. And I love that hunt. That’s... my whole life has been about that since a kid, since I had a really old go-kart, I was just always hunting. So, it was amazing to be back in that position and hunting down a champion up ahead.

“[It was] unbelievably difficult, and you have to be so strategic when you have less power as well than others around. Even if we have the overtake, even in overtake they still have more power in the straights.

“So, finding a way, I was just having to do these calculations, trying to figure out how to maximize the amount of power on my battery bar each straight and make sure that I have enough at that particular point. Thank God I managed to pull it off. And it’s a great feeling when you overtake as well. So, these cars are awesome to be able to follow.”

Given Ferrari believes it has a power unit deficit compared to Mercedes and Red Bull, Hamilton says the result is particularly positive on a track that rewards straight line performance.

“I think it’s definitely encouraging, given that this weekend, if you look, Mercedes brought a big upgrade - a lot of people brought upgrades here - we brought our big one in Miami.

“The team are working really hard back at the factory. We’ve got hopefully some other bits coming along the way, and considering this is a real straight-line-speed circuit and we just managed to hold on and get this result, that definitely gives me high hopes for what’s ahead, but we’ve got to keep pushing and keep trying to extract more.”

Although losing out to Hamilton late on, Verstappen also voiced his enjoyment for the fight as he picked up his first podium of the season.

“I had some cool battles out there,” Verstappen said. “Racing back up front is always better, right? And for us to have our first podium, of course, is really positive. Very happy with that.

“Cool battle with Lewis as well at the end. We just kept pushing to the line and on a weekend where it’s not that easy to get things right, for us to be on the podium here is extremely positive. So, naturally, very happy with that.”