As Lewis Hamilton targets Monaco GP qualifying breakthrough he makes big Ferrari Statement, Lewis says Ferrari have ‘never had any quality like him and… Details Below ⬇️

Fresh from his morale-boosting run to fourth in Imola, Lewis Hamilton says he is “excited” to drive a Ferrari around Monaco; watch every session of the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend live on Sky Sports F1, with Friday practice starting at 12.30pm

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Lewis Hamilton says he and Ferrari have “some ideas” to try and boost their single-lap performance ahead of the ever-crucial Monaco Grand Prix qualifying session this weekend.

Fresh from a morale-boosting run to fourth from 12th on the grid last week at Imola, Hamilton says he is “definitely excited” to experience driving a Ferrari around the world-famous street circuit for the first time.

“There’s lots of positives from last weekend but there’s still areas that we need to improve on,” said Hamilton, whose best Grand Prix qualifying result so far in his debut Ferrari season is fifth.
“Clearly qualifying has been our biggest problem so far this year. We’re not extracting the performance from the tyres, and that’s something we are working on.

“I have some ideas, the team have some ideas, and we’ll try those this weekend.
“It’s not the best place to try those things, but we’ll try to make a step and qualifying is everything here [in Monaco].”
Both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were eliminated from Q2 at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as Ferrari’s problems intensified during qualifying

Hamilton is now four months and seven Grand Prix weekends into his new career at Ferrari.

A Sprint pole and win on his second appearance in China aside, the high-profile union between F1’s most successful driver and team has not yet hit the kind of heights expected with Ferrari’s form largely disappointing so far and the Italian team well off the pace in the world championship races.

But Hamilton has continued to stress that both building his understanding with his new car, and his working relationship with the team, will take time – a process he continues to see improvement in.

“It’s a natural progression,” he said.

“I’m feeling more at home, with a new team, things work differently here, they’ve never had anyone like me here, so it’s been challenging on both sides.
“But we’re really finding harmony I think in the way that we’re moving forward, and that’s a hope that starts to reflect on the rest of the season.”

Hamilton ‘excited’ to drive a Ferrari in Monaco

Hamilton reflects on the opening six races of the season with new team Ferrari ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

The 40-year-old is racing in the Monaco GP for the 18th time this weekend but, a little unusually for the sport’s record-breaking driver, only three of Hamilton’s 105 F1 race wins have come in the Principality, F1’s traditional blue-riband event.
The Briton first won the race with McLaren in 2008, before adding two more victories with Mercedes in 2016 and 2019.

But while Hamilton did not qualify higher than fifth on his final four Monaco appearances with Mercedes, registering a best race finish of fourth in that time, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has claimed three of the last four Principality poles and last year finally won his home race for the first time.

“I have for years always wondered what a Ferrari would feel like around this track,” admitted Hamilton.
“Even my first year [2007] I think the Ferraris were very strong. Charles in the last few years has been rapid here.

“You can see the car works a lot different to what I’ve driven in the past, how that reflects me, I don’t know, I’m definitely excited to experience it.”

‘On paper it doesn’t look as positive’
Leclerc, however, has sounded a note of caution about Ferrari’s prospects of a repeat this weekend.

That is because the SF-25 has hitherto not proved as competitive in the kind of slow-speed corners that dominate the Monaco lap.
“Of course, you believe in yourself. I know that on street tracks, it’s been relatively positive for me in the past, so I know that there’s an opportunity there,” said Leclerc.
“The only thing that I will say changes from this year compared to other years is that we have a very specific weakness, in my opinion, which are slow-speed corners.

Take a look back to see how Leclerc finally broke his Monaco curse, claiming victory for Ferrari at his home race

“And Monaco being only slow-speed corners, it will be a very big achievement – and a very big surprise as well – if we are a lot better than what we expect.

“But yeah, the motivation that I have coming here is always very special. It’s a very unique track, very different to what we are used to everywhere else. And we can be surprised positively. So the hopes are still high, but let’s say that on paper, it doesn’t look as positive.”

But could the fact Ferrari only have to set up their car for slow-speed turns this weekend, and not try to find a compromise for faster sections too like on most other circuits, play into their favour?

“That’s definitely one of the questions we also asked ourselves coming here,” acknowledged Leclerc.

“The answer – we’ll have it on track [on Friday]. We don’t really know yet what to expect.

“But it is true that there’s only low-speed here. Obviously, we’ll try and focus and put the car in the best place possible for low-speed corners, which normally on most other tracks you just try and find a compromise between high-speed content and low-speed content.

“But here, it’s all about low-speed. I hope we’ll discover something new about our car that we haven’t seen yet since the beginning of the season.”