F1MATHS: Telemetry confirms Ferrari lose four tenths compared to Mercedes on the Montreal straights

F1 Grand Prix, GP Canada, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

The Montreal qualifying once again showed where Ferrari's SF26 loses out to Mercedes' W17 despite its excellent chassis performance through the corners. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers his latest analysis.

The comparison between George Russell’s and Lewis Hamilton’s best qualifying laps in Montréal reveals a clear and consistent pattern: Mercedes held the advantage in almost every phase of acceleration and straight‑line running, while Ferrari could only respond in a handful of isolated corners.

The red–green overlay on the lap map makes this immediately visible. Green, representing Russell’s faster sections, dominates the circuit, while red, indicating Hamilton’s gains, appears only in short, corner‑specific moments.

The speed trace beneath the map reinforces this story, showing Russell’s line rising more sharply out of slow corners and maintaining higher top speeds on every major straight.

The lap begins with a decisive Mercedes advantage. Although Hamilton carries comparable minimum speed at the end of the lap, Russell approach the first turn at higher speed. Hamilton had better cornering speed through Turn 2 and carries this momentum onto the first half of the run between Turn 2 and Turn 3, but Russell regains control once again on the second half of that short run.

Hamilton’s first meaningful response comes through the fast chicane at Turns 3 and 4, where a brief red segment appears. Here, Ferrari’s mechanical grip and front‑end rotation allow him to match and momentarily exceed Russell’s mid‑corner speed.

But the moment the cars straighten up and return to full throttle, the advantage disappears. The map turns green again, and the speed trace shows Russell accelerating more decisively, confirming that Ferrari’s gains are limited to the apex, not the exit.

This pattern repeats through the middle sector. Hamilton occasionally flashes red in medium‑speed corners, particularly at Turns 6 and 7, where he carries strong minimum speed and briefly claws back a few hundredths.

But the Ferrari driver loses again between the full-throttle section between Turns 7 and 8. Russell reaches higher top speeds, and his acceleration curve rises more steeply, while Hamilton’s plateaus earlier. This is classic deployment fade: Ferrari’s electrical power delivery weakens sooner, while Mercedes sustains its output deeper into the lap.

The decisive moment of the lap comes at the hairpin, Turn 10. Both drivers arrive with similar minimum speed, but the exit tells the real story. Although Hamilton is strong during the acceleration zone, Russell reached higher top speeds, and the gap grows continuously down the back straight.

The final chicane reinforces the trend. Hamilton is impressive through the final medium-speed chicane, but the short run to the finish line confirms Mercedes’ superior top‑end performance. Hamilton runs out of electrical energy and loses over a tenth of a second down the short run to the finish line.