Formula 1 Monaco GP

Hamilton surprised by "really strong" Ferrari pace in Monaco

Lewis Hamilton welcomed Ferrari's surprise surge to the head of the field during Formula 1 practice for the Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday, saying its pace was "really strong".

Luke Smith

Edited: May 21, 2021, 3:16 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21

After Carlos Sainz finished second in FP1, Ferrari continued its impressive early form in Monaco in the afternoon session as Charles Leclerc headed up a 1-2 finish for the team.

Leclerc set a fastest lap time of 1m11.684s to pip Sainz to top spot by one tenth of a second, leaving Mercedes rival and championship leader Hamilton in third, three tenths of a second off the pace.

The result came as a surprise after Mercedes and Red Bull dominated the early part of the season, appearing to be out of reach of the midfield runners. Hamilton was upbeat following Thursday's practice running in Monaco as F1 returned to the principality for the first time in two years, but made note of Ferrari's impressive performance.

"Generally it just feels really cool to be back on track," Hamilton said. "It's rapid, this track, it's absolutely mesmerising, every time you get the opportunity to drive. So yeah, I've generally enjoyed today. It's a challenge, naturally.

"I think the Ferraris are really strong, surprising to see them improve so much, but that's great. It means more competition."

Read Also:

Asked if he believed Ferrari's pace was genuine, Hamilton replied: "I'm seeing what you're seeing. I'm generally just focused on my job. It looks like it. We'll see."

The result marked Ferrari's first 1-2 in any F1 session since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, when Sebastian Vettel led Leclerc in second practice at Interlagos.

Ferrari slumped to its worst championship finish in 40 years last season after experiencing a severe drop in form, ending its long-running tussle with Mercedes that could be rekindled this weekend.

Hamilton is chasing a fourth Monaco victory this weekend as he looks to extend his 14-point lead over Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship. Verstappen ended FP2 fourth fastest, just seven thousandths of a second behind Hamilton.

Hamilton was pleased with how his Mercedes W12 car was performing through practice on Thursday, but felt there was still work to be done.

"I think the car is good, we've made some decent steps with the balance of the car," Hamilton said. "I'm generally really happy. I've got some changes I'll probably make this evening as we analyse today. It's going to be close [in qualifying]."

Teammate Valtteri Bottas ended the day fifth in the sister Mercedes car, but felt he was struggling on turn-in around the slower-speed corners.

"I'm lacking quite a bit of front end in the car on this track," Bottas said. "We've had similar issues a little bit in some tracks in the mid-corner, but it's mainly slow-speed corners, and if you don't have the feel of the front, if it's going to turn in or not, you can lose easily quite a bit of time.

"Also it feels like our car feels quite stiff, all the bumps and cambers in the corners, it's quite upsetting, so something to have a look at."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Vettel explains 'eye bleeding' comment during Monaco practice

Next article Grand Prix practice results: Ferrari’s Leclerc fastest in Monaco

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

28 min

MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey

Marc Marquez's mind games with Jorge Martin: "If you're fast, you don't need team orders"

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

56 min

Marc Marquez's mind games with Jorge Martin: "If you're fast, you don't need team orders"

Red Bull called Christian Horner to thank him for F1 engine project after maiden win

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

1 h

Red Bull called Christian Horner to thank him for F1 engine project after maiden win

Jon Armstrong announces WRC co-driver split for 2027

WRC

WRC WRC 1 h

Jon Armstrong announces WRC co-driver split for 2027

Feature

Discover prime content

How Kimi Antonelli levelled up his character to be F1 2026's world champion-elect

Formula 1

United States GP

By Filip Cleeren

How Kimi Antonelli levelled up his character to be F1 2026's world champion-elect

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts