For all the celebratory messages of jubilation emanating from the never-ending group of high-profile Arsenal supporters this week – from Sir Keir Starmer and Hugh Lawrie to Piers Morgan and Jess Glynne – Lewis Hamilton’s repost on Instagram was altogether more understated. “COYG,” the 41-year-old said, the common abbreviation for “Come on you Gunners.”
An Arsenal fan since he was five, Hamilton’s football fandom hit the realms of public discourse again four years ago, when he was part of a group of investors which, ultimately, failed to buy Chelsea. Many onlookers seemed stunned, not least Hamilton’s fierce rival Max Verstappen. “I am a PSV fan and I would never buy Ajax,” the Dutchman quipped, before adding: “I thought he was an Arsenal fan? And if you are an Arsenal fan going for Chelsea, that is quite interesting.”
Alas, it never materialised. Hamilton has also dipped his toes in the world of NFL, joining the Denver Broncos ownership group in 2022 after missing out on the Chelsea gig. And the Briton, seven times a champion of the world but only twice a grand prix race winner in the last four years and counting, would be wise to take a leaf out of as many sports as possible in his search for one final rebirth at the top of Formula 1.
Hamilton heads to Montreal’s unique street circuit this weekend – destination of his first win back in that glorious 2007 rookie season – with mixed feelings. Buoyed by early-season pace and a first Ferrari podium in China, the last round in Miami saw leading contenders such as McLaren and Red Bull make ground to pacesetters Mercedes. Not Ferrari, however.
While Charles Leclerc was penalised post-race and demoted, Hamilton was impacted from the start in Florida, his car damaged after a first-lap collision with Franco Colapinto. He ultimately finished sixth and now trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli – his replacement at Mercedes, of course – by 49 points.
As such, Hamilton revealed a change of tack for the two-week break in-between this two-race North American swing. “I’m going to have a different approach for the next race as the way we’re preparing at the moment is not helping,” he said. Refreshingly, he lasered in on what that meant in practice. In contrast to hour-after-hour on state-of-the-art simulators, Hamilton will take a trip down memory lane in his preparation.
“I don’t like simulators in general. I was in the simulator every week on the build-up to this race [Miami], working on correlation constantly. You go on it, you prepare for the track, you drive it and you get the car set up to a certain place, and then you come to the track and that set-up doesn’t work.
“I’m not going to go on the simulator between now and the next race. I’ll still go and hold meetings at the factory and stuff, but I’m just going to back away from it for a little bit and see. Because when we went to China [straight after Australia], I had the best weekend without the sim.”
For Hamilton, in his 20th season in the sport, sometimes less is more. Ahead of racing at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve where he is a record seven-time winner, he has clearly decided the correlation between simulator and racecar is not aiding him when it really matters. And with another sprint race on the schedule, he’ll need his natural instincts more than ever.
It may well be a weekend which tells us a lot about Hamilton’s season – and perhaps even his future beyond 2026. While it is understood his contract extends to the end of next season, his performances in scarlet red so far have been decidedly underwhelming. At its worst, last year, he even emotionally ordered his team boss Fred Vasseur to “change driver.” A first-ever podium-less campaign was not the storybook debut year he envisaged.
Yet 2026 – and the sport’s controversially flawed new generation of cars – has shown promise. Ferrari’s starts off the line are the best in the business and Hamilton showed in wheel-to-wheel battle with Leclerc in China that he has not lost any of his hard-nosed nous in on-track combat. Provided with car which can compete, Hamilton can refind the mastery of old.
However, the concern arises: will Ferrari be the team to reel Mercedes in? In Miami, McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris was the one who took a major step. Even Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, despite his unhappiness in the sport and Nurburgring endeavours last week, put his car on the front row.
At best second for now, Ferrari could be as low as fourth in the pecking order. And if Hamilton cannot put together a competitive weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix, arguably his favourite race outside of Silverstone, the forecast looks unmistakably murky once again. Perhaps evoking the spirit of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal – marginal gains, dirty tricks and the rest – could be the way to go.
