The headlines from Monaco belonged to race winner Kimi Antonelli, but inside Ferrari the talking point was Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champion took second place in Monte Carlo for his best weekend since joining the team, backing up the P2 he had scored in Canada a week earlier.
Speaking after the race, Hamilton was open about the long road to get the car working for him.
"I inherited a car that wasn't really suited for me, something I didn't like," he said. "We did a lot of work to develop it. I told them where I wanted to go and they listened, and they put the things I wanted on the car."
The decisive push, he explained, came from team principal Fred Vasseur.
"I begged Fred for certain changes," Hamilton said. "I said: I need you, so please, I'll give everything, I'll do anything for you to do these things. And he moved heaven and earth for me. I'm really grateful, and I hope he's proud of these last two race results."
Analyst Peter Windsor zeroed in on one technical detail: a brake setup Hamilton had championed, and that Charles Leclerc now looks set to adopt after struggling with the feel of his own pedal.
"Kudos for Lewis Hamilton coming up with a brake system now that it appears Charles Leclerc will be gravitating to it," Windsor said, also praising Hamilton for "driving really well" and producing a strong launch at the late standing restart.
That restart could have cost Antonelli the win, but the Mercedes pulled clear up the hill while Hamilton settled for second. Behind him, Leclerc's race ended in the barriers on cold tyres at that same restart — a brutal contrast for a driver who had been running third.
Trackside, the P1 with Matt and Tommy podcast described Leclerc's crash as "horrendous" and "devastating," singling out Hamilton's drive as Ferrari's lone positive. Race reviewer Formula Duck went further, calling Hamilton the only Ferrari driver who could hold his head high and likening his form to vintage Hamilton now that he has eased off the simulator and trusted his instincts.
Hamilton picked up a pit-lane speeding penalty during the race but served it under a safety car without losing position. Two podiums in eight days have shifted the mood at Ferrari heading to Barcelona — where Leclerc is now expected to run the same brakes that carried his team-mate to second.
