Lewis Hamilton has said that he is satisfied with the podium his secured with third place at this afternoon’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Hamilton, twice a winner at the Circuit de Monaco in Formula 1, finished behind the limping victor Daniel Ricciardo and Scuderia Ferrari‘s Sebastian Vettel whilst seeing off the mid-race attentions of Vettel’s team-mate, Kimi Räikkönen.
Hamilton was quick to congratulate the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing man whilst taking heart from a third place finish, saying that Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport were the “third quickest team” over the course of the weekend.
“A big congratulations to Daniel, I’m really happy for him,” said Hamilton. “He was so close to winning his first Monaco Grand Prix two years ago, so it’s good for him to have it now.
“I’m happy with the weekend – we were the third quickest team and we almost got second.”
The world championship leader added that he was relieved to have only lost three points to Vettel in the battle at the top. Moving into Canada in a fortnight’s time, a track that both he and Mercedes are perennially competitive at, Hamilton stands 14 points ahead of the German. The top three of Hamilton, Vettel and Ricciardo – 48 points adrift of the lead – all have two wins to their name in 2018.
“I’m grateful to only have lost three points to Sebastian in the championship fight – I’ll take that and move forwards,” he accepted.
“We hope that Canada will suit our car a little bit better; but it will be another close fight, especially with the Ferrari.”
The 33-year-old made several complaints about excess graining on the front left tyre after making his sole stop for the ultra-soft compound. However, Hamilton was not alone in struggling on the purple-walled tyres – Ricciardo and Vettel both lacked pace. The reigning champion expressed surprise in the tyres lasting for the majority of the race; he came into the pits on lap 12, completing an impressive 67 laps on the effective medium compound.
“It wasn’t a really difficult race, we just had to take the tyres go a long way; I didn’t think they were going to go as far as they did,” he said.
“It’s a shame that the race is unfortunately not as exciting as the whole spectacle of Monaco, especially since through practice there’s no place like it and the track is just epic in Qualifying.”
