Lewis Hamilton has refused to promise a new dawn at Mercedes ahead of the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix.
Bouncing back from an early puncture, Hamilton finished fifth in Barcelona last weekend to come home shortly behind George Russell in third - despite asking to retire the car following his first-lap tangle with Kevin Magnussen.
The improved performance from the reigning constructors’ champions has led to a spike in optimism from a team which had previously ruled out any hope of a title charge in 2022.
When analysing the turnaround on Friday morning, he said: “We weren’t expecting it, we were expecting to be close to the Ferraris and I think Charles [Leclerc’s] pace was ahead of everyone. I definitely didn’t expect to come from so far behind.
“It’s too early to say [about a title fight], we know there’s potential in the car and I think we tapped into it in the last race. This is a completely different track so I’m hoping it’s not up and down weekend in weekend out from now on, but my guess is as good as yours.
“I don’t really understand why [the slower corners] were good in the race, we seemed to be as good as others in the race but in a single lap it wasn’t that great.”
Hamilton sits 64 points off championship leader Max Verstappen ahead of the race, the Dutchman having taken the title lead off Leclerc with victory last time out.
There had been rumours of the seven-time champion facing a suspension for refusing to abide by a jewellery ban recently enforced by F1’s new race directors. However, he insists that “too much energy” has been spent on a topic he has given "zero thought" to, amid an exemption until the end of June as the FIA consider the wording of the ruling.
Hamilton will doubtless be focused on Sunday’s race with teammate Russell more confident that Mercedes have turned a corner.
He said: “It was only five races, we talk about it as though it was half a year, and I always had faith in the team that we would find a solution. Barcelona was the first time that we could leave the weekend feeling satisfied with the race. Now that is our baseline and we can go and find some performance instead of problem solving.
“I think the pace has been very similar between the two of us. [Hamilton] was extraordinarily fast on Sunday and I was struggling with overheating, I probably got the tyres in the wrong window. He was absolutely flying and I have no doubt that we will see this true pace and anger that he can unlock at any point - that will really have me on my toes.”
