Lewis Hamilton has higher hopes for the Monaco Grand Prix than he has on his previous two visits following the progress Mercedes has made with its car.
Mercedes will bring some circuit-specific changes to its car this weekend but no further performance upgrades following the new parts introduced at the previous two rounds. However he considered the W15 a step forward over its two predecessors.“We don’t have any upgrades this weekend,” he told the official F1 channel. “We had basically the package spread over two weekends in the last two races.
“We have our highest downforce level, which everyone has here, and we have an evolved wing, but otherwise we don’t really know where we’re going to be this weekend.
“I’m definitely feeling more excited about it compared to the previous two cars, because those two were not so great. This one’s a real work in progress and I think it hopefully should be a lot better here at than least it was last year.”
Hamilton finished fourth on his last visit to Monaco and eighth the year before that. He is yet to finish a grand prix in the top five this year, and although he is happier at the wheel of Mercedes’ latest car, he is unsure how competitive they might be.
“We’re at the the whims of simulation tools and figuring out how grippy the surface is, how bumpy it is, how high or how low you can put the car, high-to-low speed balance, mechanical balance, weight distribution, cambers, toes, all these things,” he said. “There are so many things that you have that come into the picture and you can practice on the simulator, but it’s not ’til you get to the actual track that you discover issues that you may or may not have.
“In the perfect world you hit the ground running and you don’t look back but it’s not been the case for the last couple of years. But as I said I am more confident going into this weekend. This car is much more predictable and much more enjoyable to drive. Still not perfect, but it is progressing in the right direction.”
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An Sionnach
23rd May 2024, 20:58
There should be more actual testing. How much money, effort and time must be wasted developing cars that turn out to be useless in real life? I think even Red Bull has been affected by it at this stage to some extent. If there’s a way to legally test aspects of concepts in real life teams should do it.
They should at least lobby for some degree of testing that is more than none.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
23rd May 2024, 21:23
Now hoping Lewis himself is also a better version of him than 2021-2022
2022 Mercedes 3rd in WCC but Lewis qualified 8th – Russel 6th 0.448 quicker
2021 Mercedes 1st in WCC but Lewis qualified 7th – Bottas 3rd 0.494 quicker
Considering that Monaco is the track where driver can make the most difference relatief to car performance you would expect to see positive results compared to his teammates yet over his career he is down 7-9, the only teammate he has beaten is Button (2-1), with Kovalainen/Bottas/Russell he is tied and he lost to Alonso/Rosberg.
An Sionnach
23rd May 2024, 22:02
Provided the car doesn’t hamper him, the question is which Lewis will show up. There are those who think he’s a deity, those who think he’s useless… and perhaps the rest of us are just scratching our heads trying to make an accurate assessment. He can do it, but he doesn’t have to.
Nick T.
24th May 2024, 1:26
He’s one of the greatest ever in a well-balanced car. He’s just never been that special in terms of maximizing tricky cars.
An Sionnach
24th May 2024, 8:41
Most of the time that doesn’t cost championships, but I wonder who would have been capable to win in Schumacher’s Benettons? Those were cars that were undriveable or championship contenders, depending on the driver. Obviously not Alesi, Berger or anyone else who drove them. I’d expect Max would deliver. It would be interesting to compare Lewis and Alonso in such a car… and Senna and Prost. Too much speculation, but I suspect the latter of each pairing was more adaptable. The really interesting thing would be Schumacher, Prost, Alonso and Max. I suspect Prost could manage something and have always wondered how his skill level would compare with Schumacher’s, especially given Schumacher’s level of aggression and commitment in dangerous situations. I’m fairly sure Max would hold up… and may even surpass Michael. Yes, it’s all pointless wondering!
David BR (@david-br)
23rd May 2024, 22:11
@f1statsfan
There are two factors: yes, car performance tends to be neutralized to some extent, but Monaco also favours particular driving styles and neutralizes the styles of the normally faster drivers – even applies to the likes of Verstappen and Leclerc. They extract more from maintaining car balance on higher speed corners and more flowing tracks. Precisely what Monaco doesn’t have. Throw some rain in though and it’s a different story (not that they’ll be any this year apparently).
MadMax (@madmax)
24th May 2024, 7:26
The merc car concept never suited Monaco. Its exactly the driver cannot make a difference about that. But we all know your anti Ham bias…
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
24th May 2024, 9:05
Sure – your god never can do anything wrong – he is perfect and everyone/everything else is always to blame including why Lewis has a relative poor qualifying performance in Monaco – also in his McLaren days or is that also due to car concept?
You are the most extreme biased person on this whole website but you are so hypercritical as you are also the first to accuse other people of being biased when they are not positive about your god or if they dare to write something positive about Max – your username says it all.
Just realizing that your comment is even funnier & weaker than I thought just proving your bias once again.
You blame car concept in response to my comment yet my comment is about inter team results so how does Merc car concept not suiting Monaco explain why Lewis is down 4-6 against his Mercedes teammates in the same car :-)
MadMax (@madmax)
24th May 2024, 9:12
the usual detractor
Ben-Hur (@ben-hur)
23rd May 2024, 21:59
Well, George Russell might do better that last year, but dotage takes its toll
David BR
23rd May 2024, 22:10
@f1statsfan
There are two factors: yes, car performance tends to be neutralized to some extent, but Monaco also favours particular driving styles and neutralizes the styles of the normally faster drivers – even applies to the likes of Verstappen and Leclerc. They extract more from maintaining car balance on higher speed corners and more flowing tracks. Precisely what Monaco doesn’t have. Throw some rain in though and it’s a different story (not that they’ll be any this year apparently).