‘It would be nice to have some luck for once’ - Hamilton rues red flag timing

Hamilton had posted a personal best middle sector and looked to be on course to set his best lap of qualifying on new soft tyres when Sergio Perez crashed his Red Bull at Portier, causing a late red flag which brought Q3 to a premature end. 

After ending up two places behind Mercedes teammate George Russell, Hamilton was left to rue his luck amid a frustrating start to the season in which he has already lost out due to the timing of Safety Cars in several races. 

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Speaking after qualifying, Hamilton said: “It’s very hard to overtake here, so I am hoping that the weather plays up and creates opportunities, so people can do different strategies. It would be nice to have some luck for once.”

And Hamilton reckons the time has come for his luck to change. 

“I've been having it all year,” he said. “At some stage, it has got to change.”

Russell will ‘put it all on the line’ if rain comes 

Despite managing a lap good enough for sixth on the grid, Russell admitted he is ultimately disappointed about Mercedes’ pace after the team appeared to make a breakthrough last time out in Spain. 

“If you’d told me P6 over the weekend, I wouldn’t have been overly pleased,” Russell said. “But I think my lap was really strong, probably one of the strongest laps I’ve done in qualifying all year. 

“Obviously a little bit disappointed the pace wasn’t a bit better. We know we didn’t bring anything new to the car this weekend, when we knew inherently it probably wouldn’t suit our car. You’ve got to take the positives, but we’re here for more.” 

With Mercedes struggling around Monte Carlo’s legendary streets, Russell is hoping for rain to mix things up and give the team a chance of moving up the order.

“That’s what we need in this situation, high risk, high reward,” Russell said of the prospect of rain on Sunday. 

“We have go to go for it. If we lose out on a P5 or a P6, it’s not ideal but it’s not the end of the world. We want to put it all on the line and go for the win. 

“You often don’t say that from P6 in Monaco, but it looks like it is going to rain tomorrow. Look at it now - it’s grey and gloomy, it’s gone from the French Riviera being beautiful in sunshine and now it looks like we’re in London. 

"So yeah, I’ll welcome a bit of rain.”