F1: Hamilton insists he's put Monaco pit fiasco behind him

MONTREAL (AP) Lewis Hamilton insists he's not dwelling on a pit stop fiasco that likely cost him a chance at a victory in Monaco.

And he knows how to make everyone else forget about it, too: win the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend to restore his comfortable cushion atop the Formula One standings.

''There's going to be a lot of questions about Monaco,'' he said on Thursday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. ''I'm really not going back to Monaco. I've moved on. I don't even have to think about it.

''It's about trying to shape the future. I've got lots and lots of races to come, lots of improvements that can be made, I've got a great team, got a great car and there's a championship to be won so that's all I'm focused on.''

Hamilton was in the lead in Monaco, more than 15 seconds ahead, when 17-year-old Max Verstappen crashed and brought out the safety car. Mercedes called Hamilton into the pits so he could change to quicker and softer tires, allowing teammate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari's Sebastien Vettel to pass him with just over 10 laps to go.

As he settled in for a third-place finish, Hamilton snapped over the radio, ''Please stop talking to me, please.''

Afterward, Mercedes head of motorsport Toto Wolff apologized to Hamilton, who saw his lead over second-place Rosberg in the championship standings halved to 10 points.

''I have full trust and confidence in the team,'' Hamilton, who won three of the first six races and reached the podium all six times, said Thursday.

''We've won, we've had pretty incredible success together. One race doesn't dent the solid foundation that we've got.''

Hamilton has earned the pole three times in Montreal and won here three times as well, including his first Formula One victory in 2007. But last year, he lasted just 46 laps before retiring due to brake failure.

He said his goal was ''just to have a better weekend than we had last year here.''

''So that's the target,'' he said. ''There's things we've learned from that weekend so we should be stronger here naturally this weekend.''

Despite his success on the 2.71 mile (4.361 km) Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Hamilton was asked repeatedly at the first drivers' news conference in Montreal to talk about Monaco.

Just as often, he said he was only thinking about the future.

''I don't look back,'' he insisted. ''I'm looking forward. I have not thought about the last race for a long time and I've just really been thinking about the next race ... and trying to come back strong this weekend.

''So, it's really irrelevant what happened in the past now. There's nothing you can do about it so there's no point dwelling on it.''

Rosberg also has six top-three finishes this year. He became the first driver since Ayrton Senna to win Monaco three straight times, and won back-to-back races for the first time in his career.

Rosberg finished second to Daniel Ricciardo last year when the Infinity driver earned his first Formula One victory. Verstappen was penalized two points and handed a five-place penalty for the Montreal starting grid.

But the attention on Sunday will be on Hamilton, who said he was excited to move on to this weekend.

''I'll keep doing what I'm doing,'' he said, ''because that's done pretty good for me up until now.''