F1 News: Lewis Hamilton Criticizes Engine Rules, Says Ferrari Will Falter

Lewis Hamilton was not disheartened despite finishing fifth at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday in what was a difficult weekend for the British driver, despite looking like one of the favorites to win during the first and second free practice sessions on Friday.

It was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who cruised to victory on Sunday after breaking the track record to take pole position on Saturday. The Ferrari looked strong around the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit and was untroubled during the entire race leading from start to finish.

Apart from finishing fifth, Hamilton also lost his lead in the Formula 1 Drivers’ world championship and is now trailing Vettel by one point going into the eighth race of the campaign at the Paul Ricard Circuit in France.

The Mercedes driver had predicted a difficult race during his pre-race press briefing after it became clear the Silver Arrows team will be the only constructor on the grid not to introduce an upgraded power unit in Canada. Despite that, they remained in contention, but ultimately, the Ferrari had better performance in their new upgraded engines.

Hamilton, however, is not too overly concerned with 14 races still to go before the end of the season. The four-time world champion wants the team to continue to push as hard as they have been since the start of the campaign and is confident that Ferrari will falter at some point and hand them the advantage.

Mercedes are still ahead in the Constructors’ standings, but that was aided by some misfortune that came Ferrari’s way in the earlier races. Hamilton admits that their package is still better overall, but is confident that his team has the capability of pushing more and beating the Italian outfit.

There is no reason to lose control, we just keep doing what we're doing, keep our heads down, keep motivated and keep pushing because they will falter," Hamilton told Sky Sports after the race on Sunday.

"We have to keep applying the pressure. We didn't this weekend, but I'm really going to make sure I come back stronger in the next race."

"Ferrari ultimately have had a slightly better package. All round they've been doing a slightly better job so we've got to do more,” the Briton added.

Hamilton also criticized the new engines rules after the revealing that his race was hampered due to him having to protect his power unit during the race. The Briton complained about a loss of power quite early in the race and revealed after that he feared a potential failure.

The new rules state that each driver can only use three power units during the course of the 21-race season. And with Mercedes running their power units for the seventh consecutive race, it became more about managing the engine rather than focusing on getting the best performance from his car and challenging for a podium place.

“I hope they don't go to two engines next year as it will get ridiculous. It was definitely a bit more fun when you had more engines," Hamilton said.

"The fact that a season could sway through reliability, I don't think anyone wants to see that. I don't think anyone wants to be cheated of that. You want real, true performance. The sport is going in the wrong direction in my opinion,” he added.