Hamilton hopes to have 'some luck for once' after Monaco red flag

Lewis Hamilton was left to bemoan a late red flag in Monaco Grand Prix qualifying that interrupted his final Q3 lap, saying it “would be nice to have some luck for once”.

Mercedes hoped to carry over its form from Spain last weekend, when it seemed to finally get on top of the porpoising issues that have plagued its season so far, arriving in Monaco.

But after struggling with severe bouncing due to the bumps on the Monaco circuit, Hamilton will start from eighth on the grid for Sunday’s race – his worst qualifying in the Principality since 2017.

Having been sixth fastest after the initial Q3 runs, Hamilton looked to put in a faster lap time only for a real flag to be shown while on the final attempt due to Sergio Perez crashing at Portier.

Monaco is famed for its limited overtaking opportunities that make it difficult to make ground from a lowly grid slot, leaving Hamilton praying “that the weather plays up and maybe people do different strategies”.

“It would be nice to have some luck for once,” Hamilton added, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “I’ve been having [bad luck] all year. It’s bound to stop at some stage.”

Hamilton found himself outpaced by Mercedes team-mate George Russell for the fourth time in qualifying this season, with Russell starting two places higher than the seven-time world champion.

Mercedes had been braced to lack pace in Monaco after it struggled in Barcelona’s final sector, with Hamilton admitting the cars performance in slow speed corners is worse than the team expected.

“I kind of expected it, we weren’t very good in the low speed in the last race anyway,” Hamilton said.

“Actually in the race, it was OK, but [not] on a single lap so I anticipated it would be difficult here.

“I think it’s worse than