Monaco GP: Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes have moved forward with upgrades as George Russell rues podium-costing error

Lewis Hamilton finishes fourth in rain-affected Monaco GP with George Russell a place behind in fifth; Mercedes ran upgrades on W14 for first time in Monaco; Russell left to rue mistake in rain at Mirabeau which cost him a podium position and landed him a five-second time penalty

Lewis Hamilton feels Mercedes have made a step forwards with their upgraded W14 after both cars finished in the top five and ahead of Ferrari at the Monaco GP.

Mercedes finally debuted their long-awaited upgrades in Monte Carlo, with the car boasting new sidepods, new floor and a revised front suspension.

The Silver Arrows will get a better picture of how their upgrades are performing at next week’s Spanish GP, but Hamilton is already feeling the positives.

« I’m really happy. We’ve moved forwards, » Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after finishing fourth.

« Coming into the weekend, I didn’t know where we would stand so to come out fourth and fifth is really great points for the team. Huge thank you to everyone back at the factory for bringing those upgrades.

« We kept it in one piece, we brought it home, we beat the Ferraris and we really got some great points as a team.

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Rain causes chaos in Monaco with Max Verstappen nudging the wall, Lance Stroll hitting the barriers and Carlos Sainz spinning around!

« Next week Barcelona is the best test circuit for us, so it was really difficult here to really know. The car felt very stiff, there are lots of bumps, it’s tricky.

« I definitely noticed one particular part of the car that was better but I don’t know how that will be next week.

« I’m sure the whole thing will be a much better package next week. »

Russell: P3 was guaranteed but for error

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Mercedes driver George Russell was disappointed not to finish third at the Monaco Grand Prix.

George Russell came home a place behind Hamilton in fifth, but the 25-year-old was left rueing an error in the wet which cost him a podium finish.

Russell, starting on the hard tyre, was yet to pit when the rain arrived in Monaco with 25 laps remaining.

That allowed him to switch straight to the intermediate tyres and when he re-emerged in fifth he was well ahead of Esteban Ocon and Hamilton with the two Ferraris, still on dry tyres, ahead of him.

But Russell would lock up at Mirabeau and that mistake allowed Ocon and Hamilton to get ahead again.

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George Russell is given a five-second time penalty for re-joining the track unsafely and is hit by Sergio Perez.

To compound matters, Russell was handed a five-second time penalty for returning to the track unsafely – which caused Sergio Perez to run into him – although he built enough of a gap to avoid losing a further position to Charles Leclerc.

« P3 was definitely achievable today, » Russell told Sky Sports F1.

« I was comfortably ahead of Lewis and Ocon because I hadn’t pitted on the slick. Those guys had pitted and were behind me, I still needed to pit for my medium but obviously I went straight from the hard to the intermediate. So I came out in P5 behind the Ferraris who were on slicks so we were effectively P3 on the road.

« There was a yellow flag so I backed off and when I touched the brake I just locked up and followed the yellow flag.

« That was a lesson to me that sometimes when you’re not fully on it or fully focused that’s when mistakes happen.

« Really disappointed because if that one mistake didn’t happen, P3 was pretty much guaranteed. »

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