Hamilton warned 'A-game' needed to defeat 'fearless' rivals

Former Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle has warned Lewis Hamilton that he now has to be on his "A-game" to defeat his much younger rivals, who he describes as being "fearless". 

Mercedes showed its strongest pace of the season so far last weekend in the Canadian Grand Prix, which saw the Silver Arrows compete for victory. 

George Russell secured an impressive pole position at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, whilst Hamilton could only salvage seventh on the grid. 

In the race, Hamilton found himself in the top three and ahead of Russell in the closing stages, before a bold move by the 26-year-old saw the seven-time world champion pushed back into fourth. 

Russell had the pace to win the race from pole, only for a driver error to end his chances of defeating Max Verstappen. Nevertheless, Brundle was impressed by the Brackley-based team.

"The second takeaway is that once onto dry tyres, Mercedes were the fastest car and could have won on sheer pace," Brundle wrote in his Sky Sports column. 

"A critical error in Turn 8 while pushing hard cost Russell track position and the chance to attack Verstappen, who was getting along just about fine whilst managing suspension issues particularly in relation to riding kerbs."

Experience not enough

Hamilton was incredibly downbeat after the race and described it as one of the “worst races I've driven”. 

The 39-year-old's pace was actually very strong but being part of the fight for victory was out of reach, due to his starting position and being stuck behind Fernando Alonso in the opening laps. 

Change is clearly happening in F1, as the experience of Hamilton is no longer enough to consistently beat the likes of Russell, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Verstappen.

His significantly younger rivals have all gained much more experience both in F1 and in racing at the front. 

In Brundle's eyes, it means the 103-time race winner has to be at his very best going forwards to finish ahead of them.

"There was a point where Hamilton was absolutely flying and recovering nicely having been tucked up behind Alonso in the first phase of the race," Brundle added. 

"Lewis later described it as one of his worst drives, which wasn't apparent to me but maybe he was making a lot of small errors here and there. 

"The youngsters in front of him remain youthfully fast and fearless, but have a lot of experience too, and he'll always need his 'A game' to match or beat them now."