Lewis Hamilton ‘overwhelmed’ to finish on the podium in Canada

Lewis Hamilton was left feeling “ecstatic” with his second podium of the season as he rolled back the years to take third place at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion has struggled with his Mercedes this season and only just made it to Montreal.

The design of this year’s cars has led to some teams suffering from bouncing – known as porpoising – at high speeds, with Mercedes among the worst.

Hamilton needed assistance to get out of his car following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix a week ago and required acupuncture and cryotherapy to make it to the grid.

The 37-year-old qualified fourth in the Montreal rain on Saturday and went one better in the race, claiming the 184th podium of his career but just his second of a difficult 2022.

Asked how his back was feeling after the race, won by Max Verstappen, Hamilton said: “It’s feeling good, I’m back to feeling young.

“It’s quite overwhelming to get this third place, it has been such a battle this year as a team – I’m so proud and inspired by my crew.

“They are a little bit too quick for us at the moment, I gave everything and we are getting closer and closer.

“I could just about see them at the end thanks to the safety car, our pace was quite good so honestly I’m ecstatic, I didn’t expect it coming into the weekend.

“P3 is different to a win but I think it feels like that. A bit of consistency is coming, finally. I know we can do better, I know I can do more, just need to keep working.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the “very strong” pace of the Mercedes around the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit could see the team be “a factor” at the next race at Silverstone in a fortnight.

Despite impressing here, Hamilton reined in expectations for when he returns home: