Lewis Hamilton has asked his Mercedes team to be more "cautious" from now on after his improved showing at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Hamilton, 37, notched his first podium finish since the opening race of the season, when he was third in Bahrain. Since then he's endured some humiliating moments, including exiting in Q1 in Saudi Arabia.
He was also lapped by Max Verstappen, his 2021 title rival, at Emilia Romagna, and has been regularly outperformed by young teammate George Russell. His constant battle with 'porpoising' in his W13 vehicle has even left him voicing fears of back problems and potential concussion issues.
But after a problematic three practice sessions in Montreal, the seven-time world champion qualified in fourth. And he moved up a place during the race to finish in third, only seven seconds behind race-winner Verstappen who held off a late charge from Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.
The British driver was also matching the leaders' lap times at points during the race, but refused to get carried away post-race. And he's called for his team to refrain from making too many alterations on weekends, as they desperately seek to adapt to the regulations that came into the sport this year.
"We're just trying to work, we're just trying to progress as a team," he told Sky Sports. "Moving forward, I think we'll be a little bit more cautious on doing too many experiments as it really does hinder you through the weekend, especially if you only have practice one and two in the dry and don't get a FP3, for example."
Indeed, Hamilton and Russell, 24, tried vastly different set-ups in Canada. Certainly, it was the more experienced driver who benefitted, outscoring his partner for the first time since Bahrain.
Hamilton will be desperate to be competitive at the next race at Silverstone on July 3. He's triumphed eight times at his home Grand Prix, including last year despite being penalised for a collision with Verstappen.
"I think there are lots of learnings from this weekend and improvements that we can make moving forwards," he added. "I really hope, moving to Silverstone, it's such an important race for us and for me and so I just want to be in a battle with these guys."
He remains sixth in the Championship on 77 points, still 34 behind Russell in fourth. More tellingly, he's already 98 behind Red Bull man Verstappen, having long written off a title challenge this year.
And the prospect of anyone getting near the Dutchman this season appears more remote after another bad day for Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari man was fifth, and now lies 49 points off if rival.
He's also three points off Verstappen's partner Sergio Perez, who himself endured a nightmare weekend. After crashing out in qualifying, he failed to finish Sunday's race.
