Details emerge over Lewis Hamilton not using the upgraded front wing at the F1 Monaco GP

The reason Lewis Hamilton is not using the upgraded front wing in Monaco is the driver opted out of it. He had a brilliant start to the race weekend on Friday, where he was P1 in FP1 and P2 in FP2.

On Friday, the driver said he was comfortable and confident in the car and was looking forward to Qualifying. However, during the time trials, Hamilton could only secure P7, as the driver was outqualified by teammate George Russell.

After the session, Lewis Hamilton faced the media and seemingly alluded to the front wing playing a role in him losing out to his teammate. Details have now emerged that the call was taken within the team by drivers, as the Brit didn't want to risk falling to the back of the grid if he damaged the front wing.

Since Mercedes had brought only one wing, if Lewis Hamilton had damaged it during qualifying, to stay in accordance with Parc Ferme, he would have been forced to use the older one and thus start from the pitlane.

On the Sky Sports F1 broadcast, Lewis Hamilton's former teammate and world champion Jenson Button shared why the 39-year-old driver didn't have the upgraded front wing.

“From what we’ve heard, they made the decision between them, for who was going to use the front wing. Lewis didn’t want to go from qualifying, and possibly damage it, and possibly have to start at the back," Button said (via Crash.Net)

---

Giving up the front wing would have hurt Lewis Hamilton, says Naomi Schiff

Talking about the driver's mentality, Naomi Schiff said Lewis Hamilton giving up the front wing and it going to George Russell should have been humbling. Hamilton has been the lead driver at Mercedes for a decade and now being the supporting cast is something that would have hurt the driver. On the Sky Sports broadcast, Naomi said:

"Lewis alluded to George having the new component on his car which I think is an interesting factor. Lewis has been the No. 1 driver at that team for many years, he’s the most successful driver in Formula 1 at the moment. The psychology behind becoming the driver who is not favoured must be new territory for Lewis."

She added:

"That’s probably a tough pill to swallow. Although I am sure he is understanding of the situation. Hats off, not just because he has that component on the car. He didn’t have a smooth run through practice, he didn’t have as many laps as the others. To bounce back is a great job.”

It remains to be seen how the two drivers perform in the race but in Qualifying, a '1-7' against his teammate does not read well on Lewis.