Kimi Antonelli names Ferrari as ‘team to beat’ in Monaco as Lewis Hamilton admits car could be ‘really strong there’

Kimi Antonelli is anticipating that Ferrari will be the “team to beat” at the Monaco Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton also voicing his belief that the Scuderia’s car could be “really strong there”.

Antonelli has embarked on a run of consecutive victories across the last four rounds, leaving him with a 43-point lead over Mercedes team mate George Russell in the World Championship standings.

However, Ferrari had a good outing at the recent Canadian Grand Prix, where Hamilton recorded his strongest race day result for the team so far by crossing the line in P2.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 in the aftermath of his latest win in Montreal, Antonelli was quizzed on whether Monaco could suit the Italian squad’s car characteristics.

“I think Ferrari’s going to be the team to beat in Monaco,” the championship leader responded.

“It’s going to be very interesting how we do there, but for sure Ferrari is the favourite because obviously also with that winglet they have in the back, it’s giving them a lot of downforce at low speed.

“For sure it’s going to be interesting, but I’ll try to do my best, to put myself in the best position and to achieve the best result possible.”

Hamilton was also asked when speaking to the media post-Canada about whether Monaco could pose an opportunity for Ferrari to win a race, given that he was heard talking about a lack of power over the radio in Montreal – and Monte Carlo is a venue known for not placing as much emphasis on this factor.

“I mean, that’s the one track that power is not king,” the seven-time World Champion said. “I think that’s definitely car performance. I think our car could be really strong there.

“I’m really going to focus on making sure I arrive with the same energy as I had this weekend, really study hard with the engineers to make sure we position the car in the right place from Practice 1. And, yeah, if you take away the power deficit, we’re in the fight with these guys.

“But unfortunately that’s not the way it is today. And I think in the moment I’m like, ‘I need more power somehow,’ because I’m able to hold on or keep up with them through the corners and I can’t push the pedal any further.

“And you see them just eking out the straight and you catch them back in the brakes, they eke it out in the straight. It’s really hard. Even when you get the overtake, you get within a second, they still pull away.

“So that’s how much grunt that they have, and we’re massively down. But I really hope with this new rule that enables us to try to improve some performance, so we can get back in the fight with them. But Monaco should be fun.”