F1 preview: A lap of the Monaco Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton has noticed one key difference after Mercedes introduced their new upgrades at the Monaco Grand Prix. The seven-time champion confirmed “one particular part” of the W14 felt better this weekend in a major boost for the Silver Arrows.
Mercedes failed to make major strides in Monaco but Hamilton is confident they could see a boost in Barcelona. He said: “I’m really happy. We’ve moved forwards. Coming into the weekend I didn’t know where we would stand so to come out fourth and fifth is really great points for the team.
“Huge thank you to everyone back at the factory for bringing those upgrades. It’s been so much work to bring those here and we kept it in one piece. We beat the Ferraris and we really got some great points as a team.
“Next week Barcelona is like the best test circuit for us so it was really difficult here to know. The car feels very stiff, there are lots of bumps – I definitely noticed one particular part of the car that was better but I don’t know how that will be next week. I’m sure it will be a much better package next week.”
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Hamilton moved up from his P6 start to finish fourth in a dramatic Grand Prix on Sunday. The 38-year-old mastered the wet weather conditions to stay on the black stuff as others struggled.
He benefited from a mistake by Carlos Sainz who slid off at Mirabeau after locking up his tyres. Hamilton also found his way past George Russell after a similar incident involving the former Williams driver.
Mercedes were hoping to introduce the new upgrades at last week’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but the race was axed after heavy flooding. It meant the parts made their debut in Monaco, one of the trickiest circuits on the calendar.
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Mercedes confirmed the tweaks were mainly with the aerodynamics with a new floor and new front suspension. The German marque’s zero side pod design was also scrapped with the team now opting for a more traditional system.
On Friday, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin admitted it would be hard to say how effective the upgrades would be.
When asked whether the tools worked as intended, Shovlin commented: “It’s difficult to say at this stage in the weekend. We haven’t seen major problems, which is a useful start to it… But one of the tricky bits with Monaco is the track evolves so much.”
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