Lewis Hamilton’s strong Monaco Friday analysed: “He’s found a sweet spot with the car”

2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button believes Lewis Hamilton has “found the sweet spot” with the Mercedes W14 after an impressive showing in Friday practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Hamilton topped the morning session before being Charles Leclerc’s nearest challenger in second practice to cap off a strong day in the principality.

The seven-time world champion has acknowledged his need to up his qualifying pace after struggling on Saturdays in 2024.

Hamilton is currently 6-1 down in the qualifying head-to-head against George Russell, and with overtaking so difficult in Monaco, he will need to be at his best tomorrow afternoon.

Assessing Hamilton’s performance in Monaco, Button feels that Hamilton quickly found his confidence with the car.

“He is confident arriving here,” Button said. “He is very relaxed. But you still need a car that gives you confidence, and they have struggled with that this year. He has found a sweet spot with the car.

“Make set-up changes and you might gain a tenth, or half a tenth, around most tracks. Here, if it puts you into a window where you have confidence, it’s a massive chunk.

“That’s why we see big gaps between the cars. Once people find a set-up which works for them, it will be super close in qualifying.”

It was contrasting fortunes in the Mercedes garage as Russell could only set the 10th fastest time in FP2.

Russell was complaining about the steering and of braking vibrations, compromising his progress.

He was also running the revised Mercedes front wing for this weekend as they assess whether it can improve the recurring balance issues they’ve faced.

Former W Series driver Naomi Schiff thought there was something definitely off with Russell’s car.

“He mentioned something about steering torque, he wondered if there was a big issue,” she explained.

“I can’t imagine there is such a big difference between Lewis and George here.

“You saw them working on the car so there’s obviously something not 100% about that car.

“These things won’t cause you to have more confidence around here. Unfortunate.”