Lewis Hamilton hoping Mercedes have resolved tyre problems

Lewis Hamilton hopes his Mercedes team have overcome the problems they had in Monaco with the ‘hyper-soft’ tyre ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

The world championship leader and defending four-time champion said Friday that he believed the issues experienced in Monte Carlo were a ‘one-off’ and were now understood.

“I think Monaco was a one-off,” said Hamilton. “We’ve understood where and why our tyres didn’t last and there’s some fundamental things we’ve changed on the car which affected it.

“So I think we have a much better understanding coming into this weekend.”

The team’s problems with the tyres meant they were out-qualified and Hamilton lined up only third on the grid behind Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull and title rival four-time champion German Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.

Hamilton had problems in the race and abandoned using the ‘hyper-softs’ earlier than expected, switching to the ‘super-softs’ to reach the finish.

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He added: “This is usually a track where warm-up is difficult and the target is always moving, all the time. We got it wrong the last weekend and in hindsight we know that and could have done something different. Now we will.”

Ricciardo said he felt confident of running well using the ‘hyper-softs’ again in Montreal on the power-hungry Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

He said: “We were good on the hypersofts in Monaco and it gives us a chance to do well again this weekend. This circuit could suit us better than a few of the others coming up.”