Lewis Hamilton expressed his frustration with today’s Monaco Grand Prix, calling it one of the least exciting races he has ever participated in. The seven-time world champion began and ended the race in seventh place. An early red flag allowed most drivers to make their mandatory tyre changes after just one lap, leading to minimal pit stops for the remainder of the race.
Unlike many others, Hamilton made a live pit stop, which gave him the chance to score the bonus point for the fastest lap. Despite this, he was highly critical of the race’s lack of competition.
“Because of the crash, everyone switched over to the other tyre and just managed at a really slow pace,” Hamilton told the official Formula 1 channel. “So definitely one of the dullest races I think I’ve been in. But that’s Monaco for you.”
Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin acknowledged that the early red flag was detrimental to their strategy. Both drivers had started on hard tyres and had to switch to the medium compound for the rest of the race. Hamilton appeared to have raised concerns over this strategy, telling the team “I told you so” as he entered the pits when the red flag appeared.
Shovlin explained that the strategy had its “pros and cons.” A red flag or Safety Car intervention after the front four had stopped could have provided an opportunity to get both cars on the podium.
However, an early red flag, like the one that occurred, put them in a challenging position, forcing them to try and finish the race on medium tyres.
“Most cars were doing a fair bit of management, so this was relatively easy to handle in the end,” Shovlin noted. “George [Russell] seemed to have good pace in the closing stages and was able to defend well against Max [Verstappen]. It was encouraging to see the improvements we made in our long run since Friday. The stop with Lewis towards the end wasn’t necessary from a tyre point of view, but it did give us an opportunity to take an extra point for the fastest lap.”
Mercedes admitted to a communication error with Hamilton regarding his pit stop, resulting in him not pushing as hard as he could have, which allowed Max Verstappen to make a pit stop and put pressure on George Russell. However, the Red Bull driver was unable to overtake Russell.
Overall, Hamilton’s dissatisfaction with the race highlights the ongoing challenges and strategic intricacies of competing at Monaco.
