Lewis Hamilton said today’s Monaco Grand Prix was one of the least exciting races he’s ever participated in.
The seven-times world champion started and finished the race in seventh position. An early red flag allowed most of the field to make their mandatory tyre change after one lap, meaning most of the field opted not to pit for the rest of the race.
Unlike many drivers, Hamilton made a live pit stop in the race, which gave him the opportunity to score the bonus point for fastest lap. Even so, he was scathing about the lack of competition.
“Because of the crash, everyone switched over to the other tyre and just managed at a really slow pace,” he told the official Formula 1 channel. “So definitely the one of the dullest races I think I’ve been in. But that’s Monaco for you. ”
The team’s trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin admitted the early appearance of the red flag was not helpful for their strategy. As both drivers had started on the hard tyres, they 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 said the strategy had “pros and cons” as “a red flag or Safety Car intervention after the front four had stopped would have provided an opportunity to get both cars on the podium.
“However, a lap one red flag would prove awkward. This is exactly what befell us as the race got underway. We were therefore in a situation where we had to try and get to the end on the medium tyre.”
“Most cars were doing a fair bit of management, so this was relatively easy to handle in the end,” he said. “George [Russell] seemed to have good pace in the closing stages and was able to defend well against Max [Verstappen] and 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 fastest lap.”
Mercedes admitted they did not communicate correctly with Hamilton around his pit stop, the result being he didn’t push as hard as he could have done, which allowed Max Verstappen ahead of him to make a pit stop and put pressure on George Russell. However the Red Bull driver was unable to find a way past.
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2024 Monaco Grand Prix
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