Former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that Lewis Hamilton has a prime opportunity to deal a “big blow mentally” on his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc at the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix.
Despite Leclerc recently putting pen to paper on a multi-year contract extension to secure his long-term future with the Maranello outfit, the Monegasque driver arrives at his home race looking to rebound. The new deal came off the back of a miserable weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix, which he described as the “worst weekend of my career”.
On the other side of the garage, Hamilton heads to the Monaco Grand Prix with the momentum of his best result with Ferrari after finishing the Canadian Grand Prix in second.
According to Montoya, this weekend provides Hamilton with a chance to put pressure on his team-mate.
“He [Hamilton] is in a really good position because he comes from a really solid street course to another,” Montoya explained when assessing the intra-team battle on F1 TV. “You’ve got Charles with a new contract, and this is the perfect opportunity to beat Charles and put a lot of pressure on him.
“Charles’s contract was probably signed before Canada, I would assume. You have a new contract, and you have a bad weekend, then it gets announced. If Lewis could beat him here, it would be huge. It would be a big blow mentally.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
“Yes, Charles is really good here, but you’ve got to remember you’ve got a seven-time world champion next to him.”
Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer, who appeared on F1 TV alongside Montoya, insisted that Leclerc’s natural affinity for the narrow layout makes him the benchmark.
“Canada was a really off weekend for Charles, but he is the best driver on the grid around this circuit,” Palmer noted. “His record speaks for itself. Every time he’s turned up, he’s been super rapid. He just loves it; he’s got a natural feel.”
He added: “The way that he drives, it’s attacking. He likes a pointy car, which is how you have to drive living on the edge here.”
Leclerc topped the timesheets in FP1 and put in the second-fastest time in FP2 behind Hamilton.
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