What is going on with Ferrari and will Verstappen quit? F1 Q&A

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have 11 world titles between them Kimi Antonelli extended his lead in the drivers' championship after Mercedes team-mate George Russell retired from the Canadian Grand Prix. Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton finished second and Max Verstappen's Red Bull made up the top three. Russell was successful earlier in the weekend when he converted sprint pole to a win on Saturday. BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions after the Montreal race weekend. How ironic that Hamilton should finish behind Antonelli - but what is going on with Ferrari? Has their simulator been holding Hamilton back? - Tom Lewis Hamilton was in good competitive shape in Canada, and was quicker than team-mate Charles Leclerc all weekend. After the previous race in Miami, he had mentioned that he felt the Ferrari simulator was sending him up the wrong path on set-up, so he intended not to use it before Canada, and in Montreal he confirmed that had been the case. He said: "I felt like we started on the right foot, came with the right attitude, and the car really generally felt great." This is a sticky situation because Hamilton does not want to be seen to be criticising the simulator. At the same time, he thinks he has locked on to a reason for why he has been struggling for much of the time at Ferrari and wants to make it public. "The simulator," he said after the race, "I'm sure I would drive it at some point. What could be good is, for example, going back and doing correlation to this weekend so we can find out where it's missing. "The test driver will only know what they know because it's only Charles and I get to drive the car. "So, the positive of being able to drive the real car, go back and say, 'This is actually what it feels like. These are the things that we're missing [from the simulator experience].' So we can improve it. I'm always there to help the team move forward and develop it. "Now, whether I use it to prepare for another race? Probably not. There are just too many risks. If you look at the two best races I've had, I didn't use a simulator. And that's honestly how it was. "Pretty much all the championships [I won] before, except for probably 2008, I didn't use the sim. So it's not a necessity. It's a tool that can be powerful. But for me, I'm old school. I'm probably better without it." There is one unanswered question here. When Hamilton says the "two best races" he has had this year, he is referring to China and Canada. But these are also two tracks where he has always been extremely strong. You could say they are his best circuits, along with Silverstone and Hungary. So, while there is no reason to doubt Hamilton's concerns or observation about the simulator, there probably needs to be some more corroborating evidence over a larger number of races before firmly concluding this is a definitive solution to and explanation for his previous issues. Figure caption, Why it 'clicked' for Hamilton and Ferrari in Canada Do you honestly think Max will quit F1 at the end of the season if the engine changes aren't coming? - Paddy There is no questioning the fact that Max Verstappen is being genuine when he says he doesn't think he can face another year driving the cars as they are. In Montreal, he made it pretty clear that he does not fancy sticking around if the engine rules don't change. "It's just mentally not doable for me to stay like this," he said. "It's really not." After the race, he admitted he had "enjoyed a lot" his battle with Hamilton. But he also expanded on why he doesn't like the new cars or, more precisely, the new engines, with their need for constant energy management. Verstappen said that racing in the Nurburgring 24 Hours had reminded him "how pure motorsport can be". In F1, this year, he said: "For me, while driving, it's all a bit confusing. It's not what Formula 1 should be about. It's way too complex. "Most of the rules, the fans don't even know what we are dealing with while driving, what is allowed when you're behind or when you're the car ahead, what we have to do on a formation lap or what we have to do in an out-lap, or how much battery that we're allowed to charge. "It's just such a shame that we have to deal with all these things. F1 just needs to be more pure and I really hope that what they try to do [for] next year will go through because I think that is necessary, the minimum necessary, to make it a bit more natural and a bit more back to normal, or at least a bit more pure racing. "As drivers, give us any kind of car, we'll always race and give good entertainment or a good show. Doesn't matter that people say, 'Oh, but look now, the show is great, the cars were fighting.' But it has nothing to do with the car. It just needs to be more pure." Verstappen is the most outspoken, but all the drivers basically feel the same way. Antonelli said after the race that "still sometimes it tr

What is going on with Ferrari and will Verstappen quit? F1 Q&A

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What is going on with Ferrari and will Verstappen quit? F1 Q&A

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