Lewis Hamilton got his second podium finish of the season at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the Canadian Grand Prix, ahead of Max Verstappen, who also had his first podium of the season, Yankee Scores reports.
Despite being passed by Verstappen three times during the opening stint and falling seven seconds behind the Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton produced a highly impressive pace on the medium tire to chase and overcome the driver he famously dueled with for the 2021 world championship.
Lewis Hamilton claims he ‘loved’ chasing down Max Verstappen before making a late pass to claim his best result yet for Ferrari by finishing second in the Canadian Grand Prix.
Hamilton was within seconds of Verstappen with 13 laps left, and had to contend with the Dutchman’s elite defensive skills before finally completing a pass with six laps left, and holding off the four-time world champion Red Bull driver in the closing stages.
Hamilton overtakes Verstappen on the outside! 😮💨
This is how the move for the second spot on the podium unfolded… 👇#F1 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/m0Md9UvUbc
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 24, 2026
“It was awesome, absolutely awesome to fight with one of the greats,” said the seven-time world champion.
“It was massively challenging. I think our cars are relatively close. 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.
“Obviously, I lost a bit of time, 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. That’s my whole life has been about that since a kid, since I had a really old go-kart, I was just always hunting.”
Hamilton failed to score a grand prix podium during his debut campaign with Ferrari, but has now finished with two podiums in 5 races this season. He finished third in China in March, and now with a better result in Montreal.
Verstappen enjoyed battle
In spite of losing out to Hamilton, Verstappen finished third on the podium, one spot behind Ferrari’s Hamilton and two behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, his first podium this season.
He said,
“It was very good. I enjoyed it a lot.”
“I think also when you are within a second at this track, we are very energy poor around here, and of course when you are within a second, you’re allowed to spend a bit more energy, so then on the straights of course you gain a bit of speed and around here that is very efficient actually.”
