Monaco Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton encouraged by upgrade package after ‘incredible’ practice session
Lewis Hamilton expressed his encouragement through his upgraded Mercedes after the first day of practice at the Monaco Grand Prix on Friday, even though the principality’s narrow, winding streets were not the place for a meaningful assessment.
The seven-time Formula 1 champion, who has not won a race since 2021, was third fastest in the first session and sixth in the second.
“I generally had an amazing day, I really enjoyed driving today,” he said.
“I want to say a big, big thank you to everyone at the factory because building, designing and developing a car is not an easy thing and everyone has put in so much time, so many hours of hard work. for having us here today..
“I’m glad we were able to stay the course for them and I think we got a lot of data. It’s not the place to finally test an upgrade, but the car generally felt good.
Hamilton said he could feel the improvements and that Mercedes just had to keep “stepping away” to get more performance out of the car.
Mercedes are third in the F1 championship, but far behind champions Red Bull, who have won every race this year and finished one-two in four of five.
His team-mate George Russell agreed that a real analysis of the upgrade would have to wait until after next week’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
“Monaco is such a unique circuit that it’s not really the place to assess updates or changes, and we knew that going into the weekend, we almost forget the improvements,” said the British.
“We will worry about that next weekend and just focus on improving here.
“There are certainly positive signs to take from the (second) session, much improved compared to FP1”, added Russell who was 15th and 12th.
Additional Reuters reporting.
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