"Qualifying was emotional for me," says Lewis Hamilton while claiming his Mercedes W13 is 'a really hard thing to navigate through'

Lewis Hamilton revealed it was emotional for him to qualify in fourth after such a long time and that the third-place podium at the Canadian GP has given him more confidence. The Briton felt last Sunday's race showed the potential of the car and it was only a matter of optimizing it into the right working window.

Describing his feelings after a third-place finish in Montreal, the Briton spoke to Sky Sports F1 saying:

“The women and men back at the factory are working hard weekend in, weekend out and it’s so difficult for us all working and working and not always seeing progress. It’s been such a difficult year for me personally in terms of the car. Qualifying was emotional for me and back in the garage we were like ‘wow, this is beautiful for us’. Then to have a strong race just gives me so much hope and confidence going forwards.”

Evaluating the team's performance from the weekend, Lewis Hamilton explained that although the car has shown potential, it has been a narrow working window to optimize performance, which made the job very difficult. Explaining his car's performance in Canada, the Briton said:

“There is potential in this car, its not currently where we want it to be. But it’s really got a really small working window and if you don’t get it perfect, it’s all over the place. And that’s a hard thing to navigate through but the team did a great job this weekend.”

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Lewis Hamilton feels there is consistency building up in his performances

Canada has always been a special place for the seven-time world champion since he clinched the first win of his F1 career in Montreal. Glad to clinch another podium in Canada, Lewis Hamilton feels that there is some consistency building up in terms of his performances over the last two weekends which have been within the top five.

Speaking on his podium in Canada, the Mercedes champion said:

“Its different to a win. I feel it feels as good as...in a sense that since it’s where I got my first podium, here in front of the Canadian crowd, it’s great. I’ve had a fourth and a third now, so a bit of consistency is coming, finally. So I’m definitely grateful and know I can do better and we can do more, so just got to keep working.”

Lewis Hamilton finished third last Sunday after several rounds of finishing behind his younger teammate George Russell, who has finished in the top five in every race this season. It will be interesting to see whether Hamilton can hold onto the momentum from the last two races.