Hamilton vows to 'sort' 2024 problem vital for Monaco success

Lewis Hamilton has vowed to "sort" his qualifying performances ahead of the crucial Monaco Grand Prix session.

Qualifying in Monaco is often seen as the most important of the entire season owing to the difficulty in overtaking on the streets of the Principality, with the top three on the grid in the 2023 race finishing in those positions.

Hamilton, who boasts a record 104 F1 pole positions, has struggled at times alongside George Russell, who currently holds a 6-1 record against Hamilton in grand prix qualifying in 2024. 

The seven-time champion has finished ahead only in Miami and has an average grid spot of 9.86 across the first seven races to Russell's 6.71. 

Despite this, Hamilton is sure he can turn around his qualifying problems.

"I wouldn't say it's been a priority, the whole weekend has been the priority to improve everywhere," Hamilton told media including RacingNews365 of his qualifying form. 

"But particularly since the end of last year and then all this year, it has been pretty bad on a Saturday, but it is what it is.

"I'm going to continue to work on it and so far, I haven't gotten to a strong place, but there are plenty of races left to sort that out - and there's plenty of time iron out all of the creases in my performance and the car's. 

"I'm not getting too hung up on it, my race performance is pretty decent, so fortunately, I can fall back on that."

No new Mercedes upgrade

12 months ago in Monaco, Mercedes unveiled its biggest upgrade of the ground-effects era, with the zero sidepod design ditched for a more conventional-looking machine. 

Whilst the W15 does not feature any new parts this weekend, Hamilton is 'excited' to extract what he can from a car he rates as better as its immediate two predecessors.

"We don't have any upgrades this weekend, we had the package basically spread over two weekends and the last two races," he said.

"We have the highest downforce level, which everyone has here, and an evolved wing, but otherwise, we don't really know where we are going to be this weekend. 

"I'm definitely feeling more excited about it compared to the previous two cars, because those cars were not so great.

"This one is a work in progress, and I think it hopefully should be a lot better here than at least it was last year."