"I expected it to be a difficult weekend" - Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes will have to wait for another race before it can 'really fight'

Lewis Hamilton does not expect Mercedes to be competitive at the 2022 Monaco GP after a difficult qualifying session. The Briton believes that the team will have to wait “another race” to really fight for positions and braces himself for a difficult race around Mote Carlo. Speaking after qualifying, he said:

“I didn’t really know what to expect here. But I can’t say that I’m impressed [with qualifying].”

He added:

“Monaco is always tough. But I think our race pace is better as we’re starting to see. But we can’t overtake here, so I think we’re gonna have to wait for another race or so before we can really fight.”

After a difficult start to the season, Mercedes made good progress in understating its “peaky” 2022 challenger at the Spanish GP last weekend. However, in Monaco, the team's progress seems to have been undone, with several issues, including porpoising, coming back to haut the drivers once again.

Throughout the weekend, both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell lacked the confidence to push their cars to the limit and expressed dissatisfaction with its balance.

Hamilton says the W13’s pace in much more competitive in the long runs but doesn’t expect to be fighting for the top five positions as it did in Spain, given the difficulty in overtaking around Monaco.

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Lewis Hamilton hoping for rain at 2022 Monaco GP to “mix up grid”

Lewis Hamilton is hoping that the weather forecasts predicting rain for the 2022 Monaco GP are accurate.

Starting in P8, the Mercedes driver believes that he will have a much better chance at progressing through the field under mixed-up conditions compared a straight-forward dry race.

Speaking to ESPN, he said:

“I’ve been having [bad luck] all year. At some stage, it’s bound to stop. I want it to rain. Make it a little bit better than driving round in the dry in eighth.”

He continued:

“I’m hoping that the weather plays up and creates opportunity and maybe people do different strategies and be nice to have some luck for once.”

While Hamilton is often considered to be one of the greatest drivers in the wet, his hopes of a wet race around Monte Carlo might not yield the results he is hoping for. Given Mercedes’ pace at the weather-affected Imola GP, the team’s potential in a wet race does not seem promising.