Confident Lewis Hamilton eyes strategy advantage after Monaco qualifying, despite grid penalty. Lewis Hamilton remains optimistic after qualifying fourth in Monaco.

Ferrari makes an impact in what are arguably the most important qualifying sessions of the calendar — those in Monaco. Leclerc offers hope, but in the end, he has to give way to Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton finishes in fourth place, behind the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri, but the driver remains confident for tomorrow.

Ferrari appears to have found an almost unprecedented form this year, already evident in the free practice sessions, where Leclerc consistently topped the charts. Hamilton was close too, slowly finding more and more feeling with this difficult-to-handle car.

However, there have been a couple of blemishes in the Briton’s weekend. First, car #44 crashed into the wall in the final minutes of FP3. Fortunately, the SF-25 did not suffer major damage, allowing him to take part in qualifying as scheduled.

The red car started off well, showing it could go head-to-head with Max Verstappen and the McLarens. But in Q1 came the second blemish: Lewis Hamilton slowed down on the uphill straight before the casino, moving over to the left side.

Riccardo Adami warned him that Max Verstappen was approaching but mistakenly told him that the Dutchman was slowing down. As a result, Lewis Hamilton did not manage to leave the racing line completely clear for the Red Bull driver, which led to an investigation.

In any case, Lewis Hamilton continued with the session, confirming Ferrari’s excellent form all the way through to Q3. In the final part of qualifying, car #44 ultimately had to yield to Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, who will start from first, second and third positions respectively.

Lewis Hamilton, however, will drop a few places due to the three-place grid penalty he received. Still unaware of the penalty, the driver from Stevenage appeared satisfied with his session and believes he has a good chance in the race, especially given the uncertainty of the mandatory two-stop strategy.

“I really don’t know what we’ll do tomorrow in terms of strategy,” he told Mara Sangiorgio of Sky Sport Italia. “Last year, there was a Safety Car on the first lap and then it was terrible because we did 70 laps in a train for the rest of the race, it was very boring.”

“So it’s great to have these two stops. I chose to go with two hard sets, while Charles chose two mediums. I hope that can make a small difference. Now we wait and see what happens,” concluded Hamilton, who seems to have gained confidence from qualifying at the Monaco GP.