What if we say Lewis Hamilton deserved a podium during the Canadian Grand Prix? Many LH44 fans will agree as he was just fractions of a second behind his teammate who he was fighting into the chequered flag. Although George Russell started at pole, he managed to get a P3 finish after losing his place to Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

The ending battle between the Mercedes cars kept almost everyone at the edge of their seat as fans expected to see Hamilton on a podium for the first time this season. Lewis Hamilton had a steady pace during the Canadian GP as he moved up from P7 to P4. However, while fighting to reach the front of the grid, there was a problem that the Mercedes driver was faced with, which could possibly be the reason that Hamilton did not make it to the podium.

Guanyu Zhou blocks Lewis Hamilton at the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix

Zhou Guanyu was the only driver who was lapped by the grid at the Canadian Grand Prix. The Kick Sauber car has been disappointing this season to say the least and both the drivers are yet to score a single point. This is a difficult time for the team as this is the second time Zhou has been lapped by the grid. However, when Lewis Hamilton was fighting to push forward on the grid, he was blocked by Zhou leading him to loose 5 seconds.

Guanyu Zhou holding up Lewis Hamilton on lap 45 whilst being shown blue flags during the Canadian GP. This cost Hamilton 5 seconds when chasing Piastri for P4 at the time.
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It was the 45th lap of the race and Zhou was already at +1 lap. When Hamilton tried to overtake him, he was under the blue flag which means he needs to let the lapped cars pass. With that said the Sauber driver took a little longer than the Mercedes driver expected it to and his frustration is visible in the clip on Reddit. The Mercedes driver was on his way to attack Oscar Piastri who was at P4 at the time. While trying to catch up with the McLaren, Hamilton reportedly lost 5 seconds behind the Chinese driver.

If this result is true and Zhou would not have blocked Hamilton there was a chance that we would see the 7 time world champion not only be on the podium but possibly win the race. The gap to the race leader Max Verstappen was +4.915s, making him just behind by enough to make the 5 seconds the difference between P4 and P1. Sadly the Canadian GP was not where he got to see the Mercedes driver redeem himself as he called it the worst race of his life.

The Worst race of Lewis Hamilton’s life

Although Hamilton scored his season’s best result in Melbourne, the Canadian Grand Prix was not how he pictured it. The W15 finally was competitive enough to fight for the race win, but all the experiences during the race pushed that goal away. Hamilton improved his position significantly, however, after the race, the Briton spoke about how this was the worst race of his life.

Mercedes finally delivered with their car and it was a potential race-winning car. This was something Hamilton understood during the qualifiers itself. Although he started quite behind his teammate, he caught up to him towards the end of the race where they fought for the podium spot. Although he had overtaken George Russell during the final laps of the race, the younger Mercedes driver took back his position as they went for a photo finish ending.

However, despite being stuck behind Zhou and losing 5 seconds, the 7-time world champion admitted that he made many mistakes over the course of the race. He mentioned the importance of the qualifier results where he believes he could have done better to bring about better results. That being said, P4 after a season of not being that close to the top 3 might feel good, but its the mentality of champions that believe ” second place is the first loser.”

Let us know in the comments what you think of Lewis Hamilton’s performance in Melbourne.