Juan Pablo Montoya thinks Ferrari have broken tradition to help Lewis Hamilton

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Lewis Hamilton no longer has to strictly adhere to Ferrari’s setup philosophy after an engineering reshuffle, Juan Pablo Montoya says.

Hamilton bagged his best result as a Ferrari driver on Sunday when he finished second at the Canadian Grand Prix.

While the 41-year-old only qualified on the third row for both the Sprint and the main race, this was arguably his most impressive weekend for the team. He was quicker than teammate Charles Leclerc throughout, eventually finishing over 30 seconds clear.

Some great performances on track, but which driver was the standout at the Canadian Grand Prix?

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Juan Pablo Montoya says Lewis Hamilton’s new Ferrari engineers are actually listening to him

Hamilton is finally happy with his engineering team at Ferrari after a period of upheaval. His malfunctioning partnership with Riccardo Adami ended after his first season when the Italian was reassigned.

Ferrari initially appointed Carlo Santi, Kimi Raikkonen’s old engineer, on an interim basis, with a view to making Cedric Grosjean, their new signing from McLaren, Adami’s permanent replacement.

However, Hamilton doesn’t want Ferrari to make any further changes. Montoya says the new-look team are listening to the seven-time world champion, rather than insisting he runs the car with traditional settings.

“I think that’s a lot of what Lewis felt last year – I’m not happy with the car, I’m not comfortable with the car,” he said. When you’re a team, a lot of times it’s like, ‘This is our theory, this is how we run the car.’

“I think the new people that came onboard for him adjusted to what he wanted. Once he gets comfortable, then the car starts performing.

“The problem now is they need to make sure they separate what Charles wants and what Lewis wants. If Lewis is quicker and the philosophy is what only Lewis wants, then Charles is going to struggle over and over again.”

Jacques Villeneuve loved watching Lewis Hamilton at Canadian Grand Prix

Montoya’s colleague, Jacques Villeneuve, enjoyed Hamilton’s aggressive driving style at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he has 11 podiums in 17 visits.

Teammate Leclerc said he had no ‘confidence’ and couldn’t get the tyres into the right window, but it was completely the opposite on the other side of the garage.

“It was good to see Lewis being able to drive aggressively,” he said. “The car seemed to be very precise. He was sliding it, but not destroying the tyres. He was having fun.”

Looking ahead, Ferrari are seen as the favourites for the Monaco Grand Prix, giving Hamilton the opportunity to bag his first race win in red. To do that, he’ll have to beat specialist home hero Leclerc.