Lewis Hamilton ‘not excited about racing’ after Monaco GP struggles

After going fastest in practice, it seemed that a shock podium could be on the cards for Hamilton and Mercedes but it was not to be.

The seven-time Formula 1 champion could only qualify seventh and, on the narrow and twisty Monte Carlo street circuit, where overtaking is near-impossible, that’s where he finished.

He did set the fastest lap of the race however, earning an extra point, while an emotional Charles Leclerc won his home grand prix for the first time for Ferrari.

The result keeps Hamilton eighth in the standings after eight races, 12 points behind teammate George Russell and a whopping 127 off leader Max Verstappen.

Russell was fifth in Monaco, his joint-best finish of the season, and called it ‘one of our best weekends’, but Hamilton didn’t share the same optimism.

‘I wouldn’t say that it was encouraging. I think the signs of performance this weekend have been encouraging and that’s three races in a row we’ve brought upgrades,’ he told Sky Sports.

‘That’s really positive to see, bit by bit we’ve got drips coming through and hopefully in the next race I’ll have the front wing too.’

The F1 circus heads to Canada in two weeks’ time, another street circuit of sorts and the venue where Hamilton claimed his very first race win back in 2007.

‘I don’t see a lot of different… I’ll go to Canada and as always give my absolute everything, and it’s good to see the team are bringing performance.’

Hamilton was also left fuming with Mercedes after they didn’t tell him to push on his out-lap after pitting. Had he done so, he could well have overtaken Verstappen who went into the pits the following lap.

‘Why didn’t you tell me out-lap was critical?!’ he vented on the team radio.

‘That was a miscommunication first between us on the pit wall. We got that wrong, it should have been an ‘out-lap critical’ in trying to undercut,’ Mercedes boss Toto Wolff later explained.

‘But then there was a debate whether any out-lap would be enough on the new tyre, so the message he got was at best confusing, but probably wrong.

‘It should have been an “out-lap critical”. The worry in the background was if we stretched the tyre in a single lap then what would happen later?

‘But in summary it was the wrong message to Lewis, and this is a team sport.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.