Lewis Hamilton believes he can secure Mercedes’ first victory of the season after finishing second behind team-mate Nico Rosberg in yesterday’s second practice for the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Briton, in his first season with the team, was 0.318secs behind Rosberg and said: “I’ve got to improve my one-lap pace — a bit from me and a bit from the balance of the car — and after that we’re good.
“I’m not the quickest, Nico is. But it’s not looking bad.”
The car’s race pace has been its big weakness this year because of heavy tyre usage but Hamilton said he was pleased with its performance on longer runs.
“There was a little bit of graining [when the tyre surface tears] but other than that it didn’t look too bad,” he added.
Asked if the fight for pole position was between the two Mercedes men, Hamilton said: “Some of the others are looking pretty quick, so I really couldn’t tell you. We have good pace, Nico is obviously pretty quick this weekend, so it’s looking good.”
Rosberg, who is aiming for his third consecutive pole position, was more circumspect, despite setting the pace in both of the day’s practice sessions.
The German remains concerned about tyre wear and said: “We are starting to understand it a bit better but there are still some issues that we haven’t fully understood so that’s still going to be a problem.
“The rear was going off, the usual, as we’ve had in the last couple of races and that’s what we need to focus on.
“The race is going to be very long with very few pit stops.”
