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.

‘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.