LE CASTELLET, France -- Lewis Hamilton said he had no concerns about losing his Canadian Grand Prix victory once he heard about the details of Ferrari's case to try to overturn the result.
Hamilton won the race in Montreal two weeks ago after Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was issued a five-second time penalty for unsafely rejoining the track in front of him. The penalty was controversial and was widely criticised by fans, drivers and senior figures in the sport.
Ferrari presented new evidence to the stewards on Friday at the French Grand Prix in a bid to get it overturned, including a clip of former F1 driver and Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok giving his opinion on the incident shortly after the race. The stewards took just over two hours to decide the new evidence was not strong enough to warrant a review, ending Ferrari's chances of having it overturned.
"It was definitely odd coming here [to the French Grand Prix] when I heard Ferrari were spending time focusing on something else," Hamilton said after taking pole position on Saturday. "Naturally for my team I would have them focus on trying to improve the car, but then we came here and when I arrived I heard it was Karun Chandhok's video that was the new evidence, so I was pretty relaxed after that. So I put it behind me.
"Coming from the last race it is not always easy, like when you hear boos for example, but that is part of the game and if anything it spurs me on. I had a great race I thought at the circuit and had a lot of great people following me there."
Hamilton currently leads Vettel by 62 points in the championship and, with the Ferrari driver starting seventh on the grid, teammate Valtteri Bottas is quickly becoming his only threat for the title.
"I definitely don't feel untouchable, I never have felt that way," he said. "I do feel strong but each time I feel I am starting on the right foot Valtteri puts in really good laps every time so I am constantly being pushed by Valtteri and obviously the last races it has been a lot closer and some races we as a team are not being pushed as hard as we would like to be by the others.
"Nonetheless the battle within us, it feels in a lot of races it has been down to a tenth or a tenth-and-a-half between Valtteri and I so I still have my work cut out and still have to perform and deliver. The work ethic is exactly the same and the stress is exactly the same as if we were fighting the Ferraris. There was pressure on us coming into this season but now I am getting more comfortable with the car and as we get into the season I don't expect that to stop."