Lewis Hamilton ranks 2026 F1 cars as favourite Monaco GP era revealed

Lewis Hamilton has contested the Monaco Grand Prix in multiple generations of machinery, but conceded the latest Formula 1 era is “probably one of my least favourites”.

F1 is racing with lighter, narrower cars this term. On paper, this sounds ideal for improving the show around the Monaco streets, but the significantly reduced downforce levels have left Hamilton pining for a previous iteration.

“I think probably one of my least favourites of all the generations I’ve driven around here,” said the Ferrari driver.

“Just the super light downforce. It really is like a step down of generation of car, grip-wise. Our pressures are super high. Even though we have a hundred points or so less downforce this year, we have much higher [tyre pressures].

“Back in the days, we used to run like 16 psi and now we’re up at 28 or 26 or something crazy. Maybe here it’s like 24, so very high.

“Ultimate mechanical grip is not what it used to be. I remember when I was here in 2007, 2008, there was so much more grip.

“It was even more fun back then. But it wasn’t terrible [in qualifying]. I still had fun, but comparing all the generations, maybe 2020 was probably the best period for us, grip-wise.”

Hamilton will start Sunday’s race from third place, behind Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen, and while the Dutchman agreed with his rival’s assessment, he commented that the combination of the Monaco layout and the current cars made him ‘feel like myself again’, with energy saving a non-issue for the weekend.

Appreciating the return to a ‘normal’ qualifying session, Antonelli added: “I have to agree.

“Even though our PU is great, today was the first qualifying where also on the out-lap I didn’t have to manage the battery or look at the steering wheel to manage the power, just the combustion, to maximise combustion and not use any battery opening the lap.

“So, it was a qualifying where you were just thinking about driving and going as fast as you can.”