After Shutting Down Ferrari Rumors, Lewis Hamilton Backtracks on His Mercedes Criticism With a Silver Lining Visible: “I Think We’ve…”

Lewis Hamilton aimed to start the 2023 season on a strong note, however, Mercedes continued to struggle. After the season opener in Bahrain, he lashed out at Mercedes in frustration. Since then, speculations over a switch for him to Ferrari have done the rounds many times. Ahead of the start of the race weekend in Monaco, the Briton categorically denied any such links. Glad about his performance in Monaco, he praised the Silver Arrows with a sly dig at the team that he was not too long ago linked with.

Earlier last week, reports started doing the rounds about Ferrari sending a $49 million offer to Hamilton. The rumors continued to run unabated until the drivers and the team bosses appeared for press conferences and interviews. When posed the question, the Mercedes driver categorically denied any such strings while taking a dig at the journalist who started it all.

Lewis Hamilton lauds team Mercedes after pipping Ferrari drivers in Monaco

Just when the Monaco GP was starting to tread in the usual territories of rare overtakes and absolute dominance of Max Verstappen in front, rain gods decided to make things a bit more interesting. The wet track made drivers slip and slide, making their life difficult and making for great entertainment for the spectators. Despite all the difficulties, Hamilton finished in P4, gaining one place from where he started the race.

Giving an overview of his race while talking with media, including RaceFans, he said, “A good result. A good improvement overall as a team.”

“I think we’ve stepped forward. To get a fourth and fifth at such a tricky race like this today I think is a really great result. The team did a really solid job today with strategy. To leapfrog the Ferraris, I think was awesome.”

Read More: “All My Fault”: 1 Year After Monaco Glory Tainted With Conspiracy, Sergio Perez Gets Consoled by Red Bull Boss in Post-race Apology

Charles Leclerc finished in the same position he started the race in, P6. Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, had a nightmarish outing right from the start when he took damage to his front wing. Later, he went into the barriers and eventually finished the race in P8.

Hamilton describes why the race was particularly difficult for him

The Mercedes ace did not start the weekend on the best of notes. During FP3, he crashed his car which was carrying the latest upgrades. As the crane lifted the car to get it off the track, their underbody design was exposed for all the teams to see. The upgrades did not show much improvement during the qualifying either as the Briton only managed P5. The race too demanded a lot as the track became more and more slippery as time passed.

Hamilton continued, “There’s not even a word to explain how difficult it was.”

“From my side, I just couldn’t get temperature to my intermediate tires, so I was tiptoeing. I think our crossover [pit call] was good, it’s just I lost ground to everybody when I had to stop and it rained. So I just a bit of a disadvantage and just made it a little bit tricky. But no mistakes. Kept it on track.”

Watch This Story: Lewis Hamilton Wears $225,000 Masterpiece Instead of his Usual Mercedes’ $232,000,000 Sponsor at the NBA Playoffs

The relatively more open track in Spain with longer straights will give a better assessment of where the Silver Arrows stand with their latest upgrades. Ferrari is planning on bringing its new set of changes on the same circuit. It will be interesting to see which team will trump another in Barcelona.