Lewis Hamilton says the strong potential of Mercedes' W13 is there to be exploited, if the Brackley squad can get its car's set-up right.
Hamilton cast a gloomy figure after the opening day of running in Montreal last weekend, calling his Mercedes car a "disaster" to drive, with the team's efforts to improve its performance proving vain.
But on Saturday, after overnight wholesale changes to the car's set-up, a ray of hope pierced the dark clouds hovering over the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with Hamilton qualifying P4 in the wet.
But on race day, the seven-time world champion and his silver arrow reconciled, with the latter allowing the former to clinch a podium finish that almost felt like a win for the Briton and Mercedes.
And in a way, it was a victory for team and driver that have been working tirelessly to steer themselves back on the right track amid the porpoising and bouncing issues undermining Mercedes' car since the start of the season.
©Mercedes
"It feels great today, to be in amongst the battle and for a second at the end there, I was just about keeping up there with these guys, but they pulled away at the end," said Hamilton on Sunday evening.
"But it’s given me and the team a lot of hope that there is more to come from this car. The potential is truly there if we can get the set-up right.
"I think that’s been the most difficult thing this year, trying to optimise the set-up window. For this car, it’s much, much smaller than any other car we’ve experienced.
"I’ve not been on the podium for a long time! Especially as I had my first win here 15 years ago, to be back up there and get to experience the energy from the crowd, it was very reminiscent of that first year here. I’m so, so happy with it."
Hamilton underscored how Mercedes' strong reliability has helped the team in its quest to understand its car. And Sunday's spotless race offered another opportunity to learn.
"It's good when you get a full race distance and you find a lot of things out about the car, and the relationship you have with the car, and data etcetera, so there's a lot to take from today," he added.
"One really great thing is that we've got really good reliability, which I think is a real tribute to all the great work all the team are doing they're both factories.
"We've just got to keep our heads down and keep working.
"I know where they're where I'm losing to these guys so that's where I'm gonna go and try and focus on attacking to improve."
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