Hamilton states "mental strength and experience" key at Monaco

Lewis Hamilton has stated he is ready for Monaco's challenge as the triple world champion sets his eyes on the ultimate prize. Hamilton has won the Monaco Grand Prix twice before, last year and his title-winning season of 2008.

The 32-year-old says that the two most important things to have while racing around the narrow and unforgiving streets are mental strength and experience. 

"It’s a circuit which is all about mental strength. You need to be sharp and clear. Experience counts here too – that helps massively in setting the car up.

"I’ve been doing this for a long time now. I spend a lot of time at the factory with the engineers to understand past races. Just the other night, I was driving around the track in my Smart car, visualising the circuit. It’s not so easy, though, when there are lots of cars around!

Formula 1's new era of cars will take make their Monaco debut this weekend. The 2017 regulations mean that they are much wider, which will pose an extra challenge for the drivers. Hamilton also insisted than slowly building your pace is key to keeping your car out of the walls. 

"We have new cars this weekend which are wider and faster, so that’s going to be a massive challenge. In trying to push the car as close as you can to the limit, it’ll be a real test of your awareness of where the car is. I’m sure there will be some brushing of the barriers.

"The most important thing is that you have to learn to walk before you run. You have to build up to the pace so that, by the time you work up to that second run in Q3, you’re at 100 percent."

 

Fergal Walsh 

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