Monaco Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton says the track is the 'roughest'.
Written byTimes Magazine
Lewis Hamilton says Monaco is the 'roughest' way of the year; he has driven to practice Friday due to problems with his Mercedes.
Hamilton was only 12th fastest after a tough day and complained that he didn't finish his lap. Teammate George Russell was sixth.
"There are about 100 strokes in just one straight stroke," Hamilton said.
"I do NOt know if anyone else feels the same way we do. But it's been a rollercoaster ride at its most uneven." Ferrari's Charles Leclerc set the pace in both sessions, leading teammate Carlos Sainz to the end of the day and both drivers more than 0.3 seconds faster than Red-Bull-Title rivals Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.
Russell 0.7 seconds and Hamilton 0.9 seconds back.
Hamilton complained about the "jump" - but said it wasn't the same as the high-frequency aerodynamic problems that plagued Mercedes until their upgrade in Spain last weekend.
"This is the toughest track I have ever ridden. It's probably the toughest track I've ever ridden," said the seven-time champion.
"That makes it difficult, but overall our car jumps strong. The bounce is different from what we've experienced in the past because it's also at the low speed [angles], but it's not aero. Inequality makes it worse.
"Touring together is, wow, a whole new place. I don't remember experiencing this before.
"The grip doesn't feel terrible, but eyeballs are popping out of the nest. As expected, I don't think that we will be as fast as Ferrari and Red Bulls. However, our fight is one step ahead of McLaren."
Russell added: "The car kept hitting the ground. We've been through a lot this year, but it's an entirely different philosophy and motivation to jump in.
"There were a couple of points where both tires came off the ground – at Turn 5, the front right tire lifted and was so hard that the front left tire bounced too. You almost made a bike.
"We want to be the best from the rest. It was a fair result behind Ferrari and Red Bull this weekend, but we wanted to make sure we didn't let naughty little Lando let him in."
Trending News
