Hamilton and Verstappen share cooldown room chat after Canada battle: 'It was mad'

The footage from the cooldown room after the Canadian Grand Prix was a story in itself. Hamilton and Verstappen, two men who pushed each other to the absolute limit during one of the most emotionally charged title fights in Formula 1 history, sat there at ease and laughed as they discussed each other’s moves. The world turned upside down.

It was Hamilton who opened the conversation with a sincere compliment to his old rival. "I couldn’t shake you," the Ferrari driver said with a laugh. Verstappen knew exactly why: "The middle chicanes, every time you’d pull three tenths, but then I just got it back on the straight." Hamilton nodded: "It was mad."

Verstappen also pointed to the circumstances Hamilton had to deal with. "You had some bad traffic," the Dutchman noted. Hamilton wholeheartedly agreed, particularly pointing to the end of the race: "At the end, I don’t know if it was Bortoleto. Oh god!I don’t know if our car is extra draggy or it is just the power."

Verstappen wrapped up the conversation with a genuine compliment. "You were very good in Turn 6," he said. It’s exactly those small details that explain how Hamilton managed to hold on for so long — and that made the race such a joy to watch. Times have changed. And honestly: this feels a little nicer, too.

Leclerc’s frustrations were evident from first practice in Montreal, where a persistent setup issue left him unable to generate tyre temperature or confidence across the weekend. While he accepted full responsibility for the struggles, Hamilton’s runner-up finish in the same Ferrari underlined the SF-26’s potential when optimised. Attention now shifts to Monaco, a circuit where Leclerc has typically excelled and Ferrari expects to benefit from its low-speed strengths. Read more

Russell had set the pace all weekend, taking pole for both the sprint and the Grand Prix and winning Saturday’s sprint before his car failed on lap 30 while leading. The retirement handed 19-year-old teammate Kimi Antonelli a clear path to victory and extended the Italian’s championship advantage over Russell to 43 points. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff acknowledged the intra-team duel was thrilling but warned the team would have intervened if the field behind had been closer. Read more