Ferrari continued to dominate pit stops at the Canadian Grand Prix

Despite failing to compete for top places at the Canadian Grand Prix, Ferrari continued to dominate the pit stops at Montreal, completing the quickest tyre change on Lewis Hamilton's SF-25. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo takes a look back at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Despite struggling for pace on Friday, Ferrari's seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton displayed a strong performance in qualifying. Although he was unable to challenge for pole position, he managed to secure fifth place on the grid, and hoped to be able to fight for a podium finish at Montreal.

The British driver started on the mediums, and managed to stay with championship leader Oscar Piastri in the early stages of the race. However, he accidentally hit a groundhog running across the track just before the hairpin, sustaining damage to the car’s underbody.

After the incident with the groundhog, Hamilton's SF-25 was far too slow, and a 2.37-second pit stop on lap 15 and then a 2.08 on lap 45 made no difference. Hamilton had to finish the race well out of contention in P6.

Commenting on the race, Hamilton noted: “I think if everything was perfect, if we had done everything right, maybe it would have been fourth. Unfortunately, it was only the pit stops.”

“I heard I hit a groundhog, so that’s devastating. That’s never happened to me here before. But the floor, basically the right side, has a hole in it and all the vanes are all gone.

"Then, we had a brake issue halfway through as well. I’m grateful that I could just finish, particularly with the brake issue. I had to bag those points.”

Despite the tough weekend at Montreal, Ferrari could leave Canada with some satisfaction as the mechanics completed the quickest tyre change with the aforementioned 2.08-second stop.

Racing Bulls came tantalizingly close to the Scuderia, having changes tyres on Liam Lawson's car in 2.12s - a performance which Ferrari also achieved when fitting new Pirellis on Leclerc's SF-25.

McLaren had quick stops too, with their 2.17-second and 2.24-second tyre changes having become the fourth and fifth quickest tyre service. Kick Sauber were impressive again as they slotted in between Mercedes with their 2.42-second and 2.49-second tyre changes.