Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes arrived in Monaco hoping to confirm the long-awaited step forward they seemed to have taken by solving the inherent porpoising problems in the W13 with their updates at the last Spanish Grand Prix.
After struggling with the rebound effect on the bumpy Monaco track in free practice on Friday, the seven-time world champion could only finish eighth in the standings that defined his position on the grid.
The Briton moved up to sixth after two laps in Q3 , but was unable to improve on his final attempt due to a red flag following an accident involving Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz.
Hamilton, after getting out of the car, expressed his concern about the chances of moving up positions in Sunday’s race due to the difficulty of overtaking on this Monaco track, saying he was “waiting for the weather to act and create opportunities”, with drivers “doing different strategies”.
“It would be nice to have some luck for once,” said the seven-time champion. “I’ve had [bad luck] all year, at some point it has to stop.”
The Mercedes driver had overtaken team-mate George Russell in his first attempts at Q3, but the young Englishman improved his time to finish sixth in qualifying.
Hamilton finished more than a second off the pole position time of Charles Leclerc, but said he expected Monaco to be difficult for Mercedes given the difficulties in the last sector throughout the weekend in Barcelona.
“It was something that I could expect, we were not very good at low speed in the last race,” he said. “Actually, in the long run, we go well, but [not] in one lap, so I knew it would be difficult here.”
“I think it’s worse than we anticipated because of the bumps. For us, it moves too much, bumps everywhere, in the slow, medium and high [speed] corners, so it’s a challenge,” Hamilton explained.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff did not believe that the battle against the potholes they face in the German garage signaled the return of porpoising in the W13, as “it was hitting the ground very differently”.
“The car is too stiff, too low, and it’s the same distance as Barcelona in qualifying,” the Austrian continued. “Probably, this is where we are, the car is good for fifth and sixth, but [Lando] Norris beat us.
“We shouldn’t have expected any miracles, especially here in Monaco,” said the Silver Arrows boss.
