Lewis Hamilton was buzzing after his Canadian Grand Prix duel with old rival Max Verstappen, saying he loved hunting down "one of the greats" in a timely return to form for Ferrari.
Hamilton reeled in and passed Verstappen in the closing laps of Montreal's race on Sunday after a race-long fight which had seen them swap positions earlier in the race too.
The pair famously clashed multiple times during their legendary, but controversial, 2021 title battle.
Hamilton relished the chance to fight the Red Bull driver this time around.
"It was awesome, absolutely awesome to fight with one of the greats," Hamilton said.
"It was massively challenging. I think our cars are relatively close. In qualifying, we were relatively close, and I think whilst we're probably a little bit quicker through the corners, everything you gain in the corner, they gain on the straight.
"Obviously, I lost a bit of time, he was quicker at the beginning of the race and then once he got into the medium, I was able to hunt him down. And I love that hunt. That's my whole life has been about that since a kid, since I had a really old go-kart, I was just always hunting.
"So it was amazing to be back in that position and hunting down a champion up ahead."
Verstappen has also had a frustrating year, making thinly-veiled threats to quit the sport due to his growing frustration with the sport's new cars.
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He had also struggled to get the best out of Red Bull's package in the opening four races and his podium was his first of the season.
"It was very good. I enjoyed it a lot," Verstappen said of his battle with Hamilton.
"I think also when you are within a second at this track, we are very energy poor around here, and of course when you are within a second, you're allowed to spend a bit more energy, so then on the straights you gain a bit of speed and around here that is very efficient actually. So, yeah, the last few laps I tried to get back, but it was good.
I mean, we're pushing flat out... it was just very nice for me. Also, I think it's my first race [in 2026] where I basically had a normal race, nothing crazy happened, so that's also nice."
