Hamilton: Mercedes can shift F1 ‘guinea pig’ duties onto Russell

The seven-time world champion has been carrying out the bulk of experimental set-ups with Mercedes’ troublesome F1 car this season as the team tries to address their bouncing issues and find more performance. 

Hamilton labelled his Mercedes car “undriveable” after finishing 13th-fastest in Friday practice in Montreal and said it felt like the W13 was “getting worse the more we do to it.” 

After making changes, Hamilton qualified fourth in a wet qualifying before going on to claim his second podium of the season - his first since the opening race in Bahrain - with a third-place finish. 

Asked if there was light at the end of the tunnel from being the team’s ‘guinea pig’, Hamilton joked: “Maybe in the second half of the season, George can do the experiments! 

“We're just trying to progress as a team. I think moving forward, I think we'll be a little bit more cautious on doing too many experiments as it really does hinder you through the weekend, especially if you only have practice one and two in the dry and don't get a FP3, for example. 

“I think there's lots of learnings from this weekend, and improvements that we can make moving forwards. We had really great pace today and it's so nice to see, it’s not always been the case I've had with this car. So it was nice to have a good battle.” 

Podium gives Hamilton ‘hope’ for rest of F1 2022 

It marked the first time in seven races that Hamilton had beaten Mercedes teammate Russell, who has finished inside the top five at every round and currently occupies fourth in the championship, 34 points ahead of Hamilton. 

The 37-year-old said his podium at Canada - the scene of his first grand prix victory 15 years ago - has given him hope that Mercedes can return to competitiveness and challenge for wins at some stage this year. 

"It has given me and the team a lot of hope there is more to come from this car, that the potential is truly there if we can get the set-up right,” Hamilton said. 

“I think that's been the most difficult thing this year, is really trying to optimise the set-up. The window for this car is much, much smaller than any other car we've experienced. 

“I’ve not been on the podium for a long time. So, especially as I had my first one here 15 years ago, to be back up there and get to experience the energy from the crowd was very reminiscent of that first year here. I’m so happy with it.” 

And with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone fast-approaching, Hamilton hopes to be able to put on a good display for his adoring home fans. 

“I really hope, moving to Silverstone… it’s such an important race for us and for me and so I just want to be in a battle with these guys,” he added. 

“At the end when the Safety Car came in and we started again, the dream was like if I can keep in that battle with them and find a way but they were rapid. But we will get there eventually.”