Hamilton encouraged by Mercedes upgrades after Russell's Monaco performance

Lewis Hamilton is encouraged by the progress in Mercedes’ recent upgrades despite the fact it was teammate George Russell running the latest at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Mercedes had just one new front wing in Monaco that Hamilton had also been offered the chance to use, but in the end it was Russell who tested it, with the seven-time world champion stating it played a role in him qualifying behind his teammate prior to being limited to seventh place in the race.

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“I anticipated it would be difficult to outqualify George because he has the upgraded component, but it's just great to see we are bringing upgrades,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.

Despite appearing to voice some frustration on the way the car’s performance drops off in qualifying compared to practice sessions, he also hinted that he isn’t expecting to outqualify Russell again this year ahead of his future move to Ferrari, but overall Hamilton insists he’s buoyed by the overall progress being made.

“I mean ultimately I just try and give my all every weekend and push and give everything for this team,” Hamilton said. “I’m really so happy to see the team’s bringing upgrades and looking forward - the last three races we’ve had upgrades.

“This weekend, George’s one was a positive as well, so I’ll get that next week and hopefully over the next few races we have some more and we can continue to push and try and close that gap.”

Although the Mercedes developments are viewed as a positive, Hamilton was another driver frustrated by the lack of overtaking opportunities during Sunday’s race in Monaco after a red flag allowed a free tire change for all drivers, leading to the top ten all finishing in the same positions they started.

“I don’t know how it felt watching, but I’m sure people were falling asleep,” he said. “People were saying it’s boring. I can only imagine … Ultimately I think our tires are just, they can do a whole race, so it’s just too hard tire compounds here. We got to find ways to spice it up. Maybe mandatory three stops or something to spice it up a bit more.”