Eye-popping day for Hamilton on Monaco streets
Lewis Hamilton can still race with his jewelry intact. The bigger problem for the Mercedes star Friday: The rough and tumble track at the Monaco Grand Prix.
“It feels like my eyeballs are coming out of their sockets,” Hamilton said after a pair of practice sessions around Monaco's downtown streets.
“There's like 100 bumps on one straight. It's the bumpiest roller-coaster ride ever.” At least he got to drive. Hamilton has been at odds with Formula One's governing body since the FIA ruled drivers cannot compete while wearing jewelry. The seventime F1 champion has complained he has piercings that can only be surgically removed, so the FIA granted him a waiver that gave him until Monaco to remove all his studs.
But he arrived in Monaco with a nose piercing still visible, and the FIA has since extended the waiver through the end of June.
“It definitely is positive that we're working with (the FIA) and I think they're accommodating (us),” Hamilton said.
But the mood soon soured once practice began and the new Mercedes for 2022 bounced all over the circuit. The car has been troublesome since its debut and has experienced an aerodynamic issue called “porpoising” in which it hops around on the track.
“Man it's so bouncy here, I'm losing my (expletive) mind,” Hamilton radioed the Mercedes camp. “Need elbow pads in this cockpit. Bouncing like mad.”
Hamilton has won three times at Monaco but this weekend is dealing with one of F1's crown jewel venues like never before.
“It's just fighting the car, to put a lap together is `Wow, holy crap,'” he said. “I don't remember experiencing it like that.”
The Mercedes duo of newcomer George Russell and Hamilton were eighth and 10th in Friday's first practice, while Russell was sixth and Hamilton 12th — and a whopping 1.61-seconds behind Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver led both practices.
Mercedes had arrived in Monaco full of hope following promising results last weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix, and after Friday's first practice, Russell remained optimistic.
“I think we've definitely turned a corner,” Russell said after first practice. “We can get cracking now and that's pretty inspiring.”
Russell's tune had changed after the second practice.
“The car's just constantly smashing all over the floor. There's sections where both tires are off the ground,” Russell said. “At some points you're almost doing a Wheelie.”
Mercedes has been working nonstop to get its new car up to speed and Hamilton is on the verge of stretching his winless streak to eight consecutive races dating to last season's finale. It would equal his longest drought with Mercedes, set between the end of the 2015 season and the start of 2016.
There was nothing new at the top of the speed chart on Friday with Ferrari and Red Bull once again dominating, but the Red Bull camp is settled following team orders that cost Sergio Perez a win in Barcelona.
Red Bull ordered Perez to surrender the lead to teammate Max Verstappen, who won his third consecutive race and fourth overall to take the F1 points lead from Leclerc. Perez found the call “unfair” but said Friday in Monaco the team had discussed the order.
“We spoke after the race. It's all clear, and we all agree that we could have done a better job,” Perez said. “We are on the same page and we move on. It's a great atmosphere at Red Bull and we have great momentum.”
Perez, who has already started talks with Red Bull on a contract extension, said he's received assurances that he will be permitted to race for wins.
“It's very clear,” he said. “Otherwise I wouldn't be here.”
NASCAR Trucks
Ross Chastain, who led for just four laps, got an assist from Grant Enfinger on the final lap to win the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 in double overtime on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway for his fourth career NASCAR Trucks Series victory.
Chastain, Christian Eckes and John Hunter Nemechek were running about even up high, in the middle and down low, respectively, before Eckes fell back as Enfinger came up on the outside and gave Chastain — whose truck appeared somewhat unstable down the stretch — a push into the lead, which he held down the stretch to take the checkered flag.