"Ferrari are quickest at the moment and they're favourites," says Lewis ahead of this week's Montreal event
Friday 9 June 2017 14:47, UK
Lewis Hamilton has endorsed Mercedes boss Toto Wolff's verdict that Ferrari are favourites to win this weekend's Canadian GP.
Wolff has also claimed that Mercedes, the reigning world champions, are "underdogs" for the rest of the season after Ferrari claimed their third win of the season in Monaco to take the lead of the Constructors' Championship.
"Ferrari are the quickest at the moment and they are the favourites," said Hamilton.
Wolff has described the 2017 Mercedes car as a 'diva' and Hamilton has already twice this season been frustrated in his attempts to 'dial in' the W08 with his struggles in Russia and Monaco resulting in him falling 25 points behind Sebastian Vettel in the Drivers' Championship.
Alonso: Time for McLaren change
"We are working very hard to rectify the issues we had in the last race," added the Mercedes driver after arriving in Montreal for an event he has previously won five times.
Mercedes' struggle to extract a consistent performance from the W08 has already proved to be a recurring theme of the campaign with Hamilton describing the car as "a real handful" in Monaco.
By contrast, the Ferrari car been typically depicted as benign and straightforward. The SF70H appears to have a far wider working range than the Mercedes - meaning that, even if it doesn't quite match the W08 for outright pace, it has been the most consistent car so far this season.
"This is a different track to the ones we've been on before," said Vettel. "The important thing is that we have been competitive anywhere we've been. The car is quick everywhere and if it turns out to be quick here then that's great but it's a long year and the cars will change. It's still early and there will be big updates coming."
However, Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen has told Sky F1 it's too simplistic to state the SF70-H doesn't require any fine-tuning.
"It's not easy, I've never driven a car that is easy to set-up!" the Finn said. "To get everything out, it's difficult. There are lot of small things, it's not always the set-up but a combination of making the tyres work. You get it a little bit wrong and you are nowhere."
Can Mercedes hit back in the 2017 title fight with Ferrari? Don't miss the Canadian GP live only on Sky Sports F1 this weekend. The race starts at 7pm on Sunday. Watch the race for £6.99 on NOW TV
Comment below to get involved in the debate, but please adhere to our House Rules. If you wish to report any comment, simply click on the down arrow next to the offending comment and click 'Report'.
