"Half a second off": Lewis Hamilton's estimate for the gap to the front of the grid

Lewis Hamilton believes that Mercedes are half a second off to the front in terms of pace after evaluating their practice performance ahead of the Monaco GP. The Briton felt they could close the gap by a few tenths but not completely. He also stated that their car felt good after the upgrades.

Asked about where they stand in qualifying and racing, after evaluating the practice sessions, the seven-time champion said:

“I mean P1, I thought maybe we are looking good. But we are always looking good in P1. In this session, we were close to half a second off, maybe it could have been three-tenths. But I don’t think we have half a second in the bag. So we’ll see. We’ll work on it and see if there needs to be some more to it.”

Trying to gauge the upgrades on their cars after the practice sessions ahead of the Monaco GP, Lewis Hamilton said:

“I generally had an amazing day. I really enjoyed driving today. I want to say a big thank you to everyone back at the factory, because to build and design and develop a car is not an easy thing. And everyone has put so much time and so many hours of hard work to have us here today. I’m glad that we were able to see it on track for them.

"I think we got a lot of data, it’s not the place to ultimately test an upgrade but the car was generally feeling good. It was a bit a shame, wasn’t as fast as I hoped towards the end of the session. Definitely felt the improvements. I’m grateful for it. We’ve just got to keep chipping away to see if we can squeeze anymore juice out of the car.”

After clocking the sixth fastest time of the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton has been promoted to fifth on the grid due to Charles Leclerc’s penalty. The Briton lamented their gap to the front after the practice sessions but enjoyed the improved feeling of the car.

The seven-time world champion felt there have been improvements to their performance, but they need to figure out how they can optimise it further. After the first practice, the Briton was impressed with the pace of the car but expected more in the second practice session. In FP3, he clipped the barriers at the Mirabeau chicane, ahead of the qualifying session.

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Lewis Hamilton refused to reveal the area their car had improved

Speaking to the on-site media after the practice sessions ahead of the Monaco GP, Lewis Hamilton refused to point out the key areas where their car had improved. He claimed that he is aware of the area they have improved in and that it's a matter of optimising the car and improving further.

Asked if there was a key area specifically where their car had improved, Lewis Hamilton said:

“There is.. I’m not going to say where it is. But there is and it’s very clear where the lack of performance is for me and so I just have to. We’ll talk about it in the debrief, we’ll put our heads together and try and figure out how to do that within what we have. And hopefully, this gives a platform to build on moving forwards.”

On his feeling to be racing in Monaco, Lewis Hamilton stated:

“It’s such a beautiful, it really is a stunning place for people to come. A lot of Brits come over here, a lot of Europeans come here. It’s such a privilege. I woke up this morning and reminded myself as a kid when I was 13, I saw this place. When I first came here, seeing it, it was then my dream. I said ‘one day I will live here’. To wake up and know that I’m only one out of 20 drivers that get to drive in Formula 1, I pinched myself this morning. I feel very, very grateful.”

Although Mercedes brought a revised floor, new front suspension, and side pods for the W14, Monaco is not the best track to evaluate their progress. Given the slower cornering speeds and tight nature of the circuit, it won’t be until Spain that they can evaluate and assess their car meticulously. In qualifying, Lewis Hamilton was three-tenths of a second off the pole sitter Max Verstappen.