"It's really irrelevant what happened in the past now," insists Lewis two weeks on from Monaco victory bypass; Expecting a bigger threat from Ferrari as he eyes a fourth win in Montreal
Friday 5 June 2015 11:31, UK
Lewis Hamilton has vowed he still has complete trust in the strategic decision-making of his Mercedes team despite their race-costing aberration in Monaco.
Centre stage, literally and metaphorically, in Thursday’s press conference as he faced the world’s media for the first time since Mercedes' Monte Carlo meltdown, Hamilton maintained an immaculate defence that Geoff Boycott would have been proud of.
Faced with a barrage of questions about events two weeks ago, the 30-year-old ducked and weaved through the onslaught before displaying a perfect straight bat as he refused to take a backwards glance at the cost and consequences of his defeat in the principality.
“I don't look back,” repeated the Mercedes driver. “I'm looking forwards. I've honestly not thought about the last race for a long time, I've been thinking about the next race and putting my mind to other things and trying to come back strong this weekend.
"It's really irrelevant what happened in the past now - there's nothing you can do about it so there's no point dwelling on it."
Nor, insisted Hamilton, had his faith in the Mercedes team been dented by their erroneous decision to pit their lead driver from behind the Safety Car, a mistake which handed Nico Rosberg a fortuitous victory and relegated the Englishman to third.
"I have full trust and confidence in the team. We've had pretty incredible success together - one race doesn't dent the solid foundation that we've built,” he added.
Heading into this Sunday’s race, live on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports F1 from 7pm, Hamilton leads the World Championship by a mere 10 points following the 17-point swing in Monaco.
Hamilton, however, remains on a career-best run of 13 podium finishes and 15 races led in a row and therefore insists his confidence remains high.
"The success we’ve had has been unreal. Even in the last race, the feeling in the car was like no other times," Hamilton later told Sky Sports News HQ.
"It’s a very special experience driving for this team, driving this car and driving the way I’m able to drive at the moment."
Hamilton is aiming for a fourth career win in Montreal, 12 months after his last attempt to reach that mark was scuppered by a fundamental ERS failure on his Mercedes.
Rivals Ferrari are set to introduce a new-specification engine for the race weekend after using three of their development tokens and Hamilton, whose Mercedes team continue to focus on reliability for now, is expecting the circuit to play to the Italian outfit's strengths.
"I’m sure Ferrari are going to be strong here, as they have been on other circuits," he added. "Obviously it’s got the long straights and Ferrari have been strong on the straights and this is less of a downforce circuit as well, so I’d imagine they’ll be closer this weekend."
