Lewis Hamilton hailed after Canadian GP drive that 'got inside Charles Leclerc's head'

Lewis Hamilton appeared to rediscover his spark during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, showing a renewed sense of "freedom" and delivering a turn of pace that seemingly rattled his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, according to broadcaster Jake Humphrey and former engineer Rob Smedley.

Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast, Humphrey and Smedley reflected on the improved showing from the seven-time champion, who achieved his best finish with Ferrari by finishing second at the Canadian Grand Prix. 

"I had a massive smile on my face watching him race in that grand prix," Humphrey said. "You know what I loved? The way he went and lifted up Kimi Antonelli. Did you see that? At the end, Kimi's there, they had just got out of the car at the end of the race. Lewis, with a big beaming smile on his face, lifts up Kimi. Lewis looked like he had a freedom I've not seen in a while."

Smedley added: "He always brings something special. He's always brought something special around Montreal. He was quicker than Charles. That got inside Charles's head because all of a sudden he started to claim that he'd had the worst weekend of his career in Formula 1, stuff like that.

"So clearly, if Lewis had been three places further back, I wouldn't have thought that Charles would have referred to his weekend as being the worst weekend of his career."

Hamilton's second-place finish at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve places him fourth in the drivers' standings, just three points behind Leclerc in third. 

The Ferrari driver reflected on his P2 finish on Instagram, sharing: "P2 !!! Really enjoyed being out there all weekend. It’s great to be fighting at the front and extracting the best out of the car.

"Big shout to the team for all the prep that went into this weekend, the changes we made really paid off. I always look forward to coming here. Some good battles and challenging weather conditions, Montreal never disappoints. We go again in Monaco."