Lewis Hamilton took the extra point for fastest lap at the Monaco GP as the Mercedes driver came over the line in fourth.
Hamilton struggled to get the best out of his car during qualifying, despite praising upgrades brought to Monte Carlo with the aim of closing the gap to Red Bull and Aston Martin at the front of the pack.
The seven-time champion left it late to get out of both Q1 and Q2, and eventually had to settle for sixth on the grid.
After undercutting the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Hamilton was able to move up to fourth, behind the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, and race winner Max Verstappen.
Set up change
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said after qualifying that a change the team made to the car ahead of the session had cost Hamilton a chance for a higher grid place.
“Lewis was quick all weekend, obviously in Monaco it’s always difficult to put a lap together but once he got it together we got a purple sector one,” Wolff told select members of the press, including Total-Motorsport.com.
“And then the team with Lewis we decided to take a more bold decision on set-up, because we felt we can play in the front and that backfired and put him on the back foot in qualifying.
“The car never felt really together, we had to take a third tyre in Q2, and therefore the recovery was very good.
“But there was a lot of pressure and so finishing P6 is OK, three tenths of pole is solid in terms of the time gap, but obviously the position is not great.”
