Lewis Hamilton finished second at the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix, his best result since joining Ferrari.
According to Read Motorsport, the race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve ended with Hamilton holding off Max Verstappen in a late-race battle that swung several times in the final laps.
The result moved Hamilton to fourth in the drivers’ standings with 72 points.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli won the race and extended his championship lead to 43 points, his fourth straight victory.
Early on, Antonelli and teammate George Russell traded the lead before Russell’s power unit failed on Lap 30. That retirement, combined with McLaren’s disastrous strategy call, left Hamilton and Verstappen to fight over the runner-up spot.
Verstappen passed Hamilton into Turn 1 on Lap 9, with Hamilton reporting a lack of power over team radio. The Red Bull driver built a gap, but the pit stop phase changed things.
With six laps remaining, Hamilton deployed stored battery power and passed Verstappen into Turn 1. Verstappen stayed within the overtake boost window until the end, but could not find a way through. Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari.
After the race he told Sky Sports, “It was awesome. Absolutely awesome to fight with one of the greats. It was massively challenging. I think our cars are relatively close. You see him in qualifying, we were relatively close. And I think whilst we’re probably a little bit quicker through the corners, everything you gain in the corner, they gain on the straight.”
“And very challenging behind him. He was quicker at the beginning of the race, and then once he got into the medium, I was able to hunt him down. And I love that hunt,” he added.
Hamilton also credited his Ferrari crew during the post-race interview with Heikki Kovalainen.
