Lewis Hamilton believes that his hard-fought podium finish in the Monaco Grand Prix proved that Ferrari still have plenty of work to do to match Mercedes, with the Briton quick to praise Kimi Antonelli for his stunning victory.
Starting from third, Hamilton was hopeful he could challenge for a higher position at lights out, but he unexpectedly gained one straightaway as Max Verstappen stopped on the grid and plummeted to the back, allowing the Ferrari driver to instantly improve to P2.
Antonelli escaped up the road and opened up an unassailable lead as Hamilton ran ahead of his team mate Charles Leclerc, maintaining the position throughout the first round of stops before he was handed a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
A golden opportunity presented itself when the Safety Car was deployed while Lance Stroll’s damaged Aston Martin was recovered, meaning Hamilton could serve his penalty during the race and defend P2 all the way to the chequered flag.
“I have to start by congratulating Kimi and the Mercedes team, my old family,” he said. “They’ve done it again, they’ve created an amazing car and Kimi’s doing an incredible job, just delivering weekend in, weekend out. It’s great to see and I’m really happy for them.
“On our side, I think we’ve been progressing over the past months and can’t quite keep up with them just yet, and it’s probably going to take a lot of work for us to get to their level.
“But to get another second place is such a great feeling, especially in Monaco, under the trickiest conditions. It was the hardest conditions out there, and we’ve had such a great turnout today as well, so I’ll definitely take it.”
This marks Hamilton’s eighth podium in Monaco, equalling Ayrton Senna’s record around the iconic circuit, but the achievement didn’t erase the issues he faced during the 78-lap Grand Prix.
Degradation and overheating tyres dictated his opening stint and made it an uncomfortable drive to his second consecutive podium, but the result nevertheless enabled him to overtake George Russell for P2 in the Drivers’ standings.
Asked what the biggest challenge was in Monaco, Hamilton explained: “I think for me it’s really the car. The car is good, but we need more downforce ultimately. With the tyres, with the different scenarios we had out there, I ran out of tyres quite early in the first stint, and then I was on that long second stint and these tyres aren’t particularly great over a long stint, so holding on to that was going to be tough.
“Once we had to slow down under the Safety Car, you lose all temperature, and you saw with other drivers out there that it was really hard to stay on track. I think just with all different things that have been thrown at us, it was massively challenging but really grateful for the day.
“Happy and grateful to the team, grazie to everyone back at the factory and all the guys here have worked so hard to get this result – they truly deserve this and more, and I’ve just got to keep working harder to see if I can finally take that next step for them.”
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