Hamilton confident Mercedes has a grip on hypersofts

40

Lewis Hamilton doesn't expect Mercedes to continue to struggle with getting the best out of the new pink hypersofts this weekend.

The team had appeared vexed with how to use Pirelli's latest compound in Monaco, which was the first time the hypersoft had been available to teams at a race weekend.

The hypersoft tyre is back for this week's Canadian Grand Prix, and Hamilton says that they now have a much better idea of how to maximise its performance.

"We've understood where and why our tyres didn't last [in Monaco]," he said. "There's some fundamental things we've changed on the car which affected it.

"The hypersoft has a bit of a different requirement to the other tyres," he continued. "I think Monaco was a one-off in that sense,

"The last weekend was ultimately a mistake, and in hindsight, we would have done something different.

"We're now aware of that, and we're going to tackle it," he insisted. "I think we have a much better understanding coming into this weekend."

Mercedes forced to delay roll-out of new power units

Monaco is of course a one-of-a-kind circuit. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve might also be a street track, but its long straights make it a very different beast.

"Usually this is a track where warm-up is difficult," said Hamilton. "The target's always moving, weekend in and weekend out. We're trying to gauge it the best we could."

While Mercedes struggled in Monaco, Red Bull revelled on the new compound. Last week's race winner Daniel Ricciardo believes that they will have the upper hand again this time out.

"We were good on the hypersoft in Monaco," he said on Thursday. "Maybe it gives us another chance this weekend to have a strong race.

"We feel on paper this circuit should suit us more than maybe a couple of the others coming up."

Red Bull was able to run the hypersofts longer than their rivals in Monaco, which is what gave them the edge in the race.

"I like that it can be a bit of a qualifying tyre and then you cannot race that long on it," Ricciardo said. "It's nice having a quick tyre in qualifying, and then we will deal with it later.

"I think the hyper will get an even harder time around here," he suggested. "I want everyone to start on it, so it can create a little bit of something!"

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Mercedes, Canadian Grand Prix

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.