Photo credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes made the most of untested upgrades and chaotic weather to come home in fourth at the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton barely made it out of the first two rounds of qualifying before putting himself fifth on the grid following Leclerc’s penalty, but from there it was a just a matter of keeping a clean race and taking advantage of mistakes to make Monaco work.
“There’s not even a word to explain how difficult it was. And I think from my side, I couldn’t get temperature into my intermediate tyres. So I was tiptoeing. I think our crossover was good. It’s just I lost ground to everyone when I had to stop. And it rained. So just a bit of a disadvantage, and it just made it a little bit tricky, but no mistakes. Kept it on track.”
Hamilton noted the collective effort of Mercedes to put together a sharp weekend to manage the rare Monaco feat of moving both him and teammate George Russell forward by the end of the race.
“Overall, as a team, I think we’ve stepped forward. And to get a fourth and fifth in such a tricky race like this today, I think it’s a really great result. The team did a really solid job today with strategy. And to leapfrog the Ferraris, I think, was awesome.”
Much was said coming into the weekend about the aerodynamic upgrades Mercedes brought, but at a track like Monaco, there was little noticed about them during the race. What Hamilton did notice, he liked, and is optimistic about next weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.
“I feel like the car’s progressed. It’s moved forward. I think next week we’ll get a much better feel for it, but in a place where we can really push through all the medium and high-speed corners.”
