Lewis Hamilton confident of first Ferrari victory soon

Lewis Hamilton believed his first win for Ferrari was on the horizon following a second-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix. The seven-time champion committed to pursuing the Formula One world championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, who claimed victory in Monte Carlo.

After the race, there was a furious reaction from Pierre Gasly of France, who crossed the finish line believing he had secured third place and a spot on the podium, only to find he had two penalties for speeding in the pit lane, which dropped him to seventh. Antonelli secured the win for Mercedes after a dominant drive, maintaining his lead through a safety-car restart and a standing restart. With his teammate George Russell finishing in 13th, one of five drivers penalised for speeding in the pit lane, the 19-year-old Italian now led the title race by 66 points over Hamilton, who surpassed Russell and was two points ahead of him in second place.

"I can’t believe I am second in the championship," Hamilton remarked. "It is still very early days in the season and we have to keep chasing. It is actually easier to chase than defend, and while these guys [Mercedes] are very quick, we are going to keep pushing and keep chasing. I have no doubt that at some stage we will get that [Ferrari win]. Kimi is doing a phenomenal job but it just encourages me to level up and it encourages everyone else to level up, too. I am going to do my best to try and chase him down for the rest of the year."

Hamilton was among five drivers penalised for speeding in the pit lane, an unusually high number. Alongside Russell, Gasly, Oscar Piastri, and Franco Colapinto also faced penalties.

Gasly expressed his displeasure regarding the post-race penalties. He had driven a superb race from ninth on the grid, overtaking Lando Norris at the start and then Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar during the standing restart. Gasly celebrated his presumed third place on his in-lap, unaware that he faced two five-second penalties to be applied to his time. He detailed his disappointment, stating, "I don’t think there is anything that could hurt me more right now. It’s 10 years I’m working my ass off for this type of moment. This is the type of moment that, for me, can’t be taken away from us by unfair reasons. What’s going on right now is not right and hopefully they can make the right choice."

Gasly's Alpine team has requested to review the penalties. All drivers involved believed they had used their pit speed limiters correctly. The issue appeared to arise from marginally crossing the line marking the start of speed measurement at pit entry, which the FIA had warned against. Russell's title hopes faced a serious setback due to not scoring points in the last two races. He was disappointed in Monaco when Mercedes neglected to enforce his five-second penalty during his stop, leading to a drive-through penalty that demoted him from third to 13th. He lamented, "I’m beyond frustration now. Just struggling to comprehend how this season has panned out."

Russell reflected on his unfortunate circumstances, stating, "The team tells me there’s nothing I did wrong with the speed in the pit lane, it was a software issue." He added, "I’ve never had a run of bad luck like this."