F1: Hamilton believes in strong Ferrari at Monaco GP

The second place achieved by Lewis Hamilton at the Canadian Grand Prix last Sunday (24) was his best result since switching from Mercedes to Ferrari in January last year, disregarding a sprint victory. The result also marked his second podium of the season.

His teammate, Charles Leclerc, has two third places, achieved in Australia and Japan. With this, Ferrari rose to second place in the Constructors' World Championship, 72 points behind Mercedes.

Hamilton is a three-time Monaco GP champion, with his most recent victory coming in 2019, still with Mercedes. Last year, the winner was Lando Norris, from McLaren and current world champion.

After overtaking former Red Bull rival Max Verstappen at the end of the race in Montreal, Hamilton said Ferrari's performance on a high-speed circuit had raised hopes for Monaco.

The Italian team has been losing time on the straights, but making up for it in the curves - precisely the strong point of the Monaco layout, where overtaking is extremely difficult and the classification usually decides the race.

"Monaco is the track where power is not the main factor. I think our car can be very strong there," said Hamilton.

"If we remove this power disadvantage, we will be fighting with Mercedes. Monaco should be fun."

The 2026 cars are smaller, lighter and shorter following important changes to Formula 1's technical regulations.

The Ferrari has also been standing out at the start thanks to a smaller turbo compared to its rivals, making the car more responsive to the accelerator.

"Monaco is a completely different story, with different conditions," said Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur, who called Hamilton "Luigi" after the race - a nickname that could end up sticking.

Hamilton refutes rumors and guarantees his stay at Ferrari

Source: CNN