We beat the Ferraris": Lewis Hamilton happy with progress at Mercedes after the 2023 F1 Monaco GP

Lewis Hamilton was happy with Merdedes' progress at the 2023 F1 Monaco GP, where he finished fourth. The F1 legend did not have the most competitive qualifying on Friday and was nowhere close to being in contention for pole position. He was, however, very impressive in the race on Sunday.

Starting on medium tires, Lewis Hamilton was able to keep up with the Ferraris around him early in the race and made the pitstop for hard tires at the perfect time. Later in the race, Hamilton timed his pitstop for intermediate tires perfectly as well. Unlike teammate George Russell, he did not make any mistakes and kept his nose clean until the finish.

Looking back at the race, Lewis Hamilton was extremely happy with the progress made by the team over the weekend, saying:

“I’m really happy. We’ve moved forwards. Coming into the weekend I didn’t know where we would stand so to come out fourth and fifth is really great points for the team. Huge thank you to everyone back at the factory for bringing those upgrades. We kept it in one piece, we beat the Ferraris and we really got some great points as a team."

He added:

“Next week Barcelona is the best test circuit for us so it was really difficult here to know. The car felt very stiff, there are lots of bumps – I felt one particular part of the car that was better but I don’t know how that will be next week. I’m sure it will be a much better package next week.”

Toto Wolff happy with Lewis Hamilton and his teammate's performance in the race

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was also extremely happy with the progress made by the team and the performance of both drivers during the race. Wolff, however, pointed out that Monaco isn't a "representative circuit" and that Barcelona will provide a better idea of the team's competitiveness.

"We brought a big package to this race, and it has performed well. We have seen some positives in Monaco, which we know is not a representative circuit, and it will be next week in Barcelona when we get a more precise idea of competitiveness. We don’t want to get ahead ourselves, and I think we’re all looking forward to learning more about the car, and to seeing if we’ve made a step in performance against our immediate competitors.”

It will be interesting to see how Mercedes performs at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in a week's time.