Lewis Hamilton urges Mercedes to ‘keep pushing’ after an extremely disappointing P7 finish in Monaco qualification

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in FP1 on friday.

Lewis Hamilton urges Mercedes to ‘keep pushing’ after an extremely disappointing P7 finish in Monaco qualification

Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)

Lewis Hamilton managed P7 in the recent Monaco Grand Prix qualifying, which comes as a disappointing result for the Englishman given his strong performance in the practice sessions. The seven-time world champion was four-tenths off of the leader, Charles Leclerc.

Mercedes have once again failed to qualify for the front row this season, with George Russell qualifying P5 in the W15. The team was optimistic of a better performance after having encouraging practice sessions, but was left stunned after a majestic performance by Charles Leclerc, who scored his third pole in Monaco.

YouTube video

The teams of McLaren and Ferrari showed yet again why they’ve been superior to Mercedes this season after taking the first four positions for Sunday around Monaco. Lewis Hamilton now faces a steep uphill battle, which will be even tougher for him given the narrow nature of the track which will not allow many overtaking opportunities.

FS Video
So, it was hard to beat George with the upgrade. I am not driving differently, just the laptime isn't coming. For some reason, we are a lot closer this weekend, but we are 3 tenths off this weekend. We just need to keep pushing and we will get closer when the upgrades come.
Lewis Hamilton said post qualifying.

Hamilton admitted that he failed to beat George Russell with the upgrades in the car, as the latter qualified higher than him on the grid for the race. He also says that the car was a lot closer this weekend but still fell three-tenths short of the leader. Mercedes will now put their heads down and try to perform to the best of their abilities tomorrow to maximize the advantage that they have felt with the car this weekend.

George Russell pleased with the performance of W15

George Russell spoke in praise of his team after the British driver qualified P5 in Monaco qualifying, just three-hundredths of a second short of second-placed, Oscar Piastri. Russell raced on Saturday with a revised front wing for the car, which reaped benefits for him.

George Russell
George Russell (Via: Imago)
Really strong result today. We are making huge progress at the moment. We’ve brought new bits to the car this weekend and it’s been great. I am hoping it is a turning point. Monaco has never been a strength for our car. It could have been P3. It was P5, in the end. We are making progress.
George Russell said post-qualifying.

Russell had a decent Q1 and Q2 but was not quite finding the best pace with his W15. However, in Q3 he was able to push the car in a much better manner and looked to qualify P2, only to fall short of Piastri who outpaced him in the last lap.

Mercedes has never been fortunate enough to find good pace around Monaco, but George Russell hopes that the recent qualifying is a sign of better things to come. Russell will now look to close the gap as much as possible around the tricky Monaco circuit with reports of rain occurring during the race.

In case you missed it: