Lewis Hamilton claps back at critics after Monaco Grand Prix super show: 'I still have it'

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton claps back at critics after Monaco Grand Prix super show: 'I still have it'

Lewis Hamilton finished second at the Monaco Grand Prix

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 9 June 2026 09:55 Updated: 10:08

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Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton backed up comments he made after qualifying on Saturday by putting in another brilliant performance at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.

Hamilton secured second place in Monaco behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who claimed his fifth successive grand prix win.

For Hamilton, it was a second consecutive second-place finish, as he returns to form this year with Ferrari. The 41-year-old is now up in second in the drivers' championship, his highest standing since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

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But it was arguably his qualifying performance that put him in the position to achieve that, with a phenomenal effort to beat team-mate Charles Leclerc and end up on the second row.

Leclerc is Mr Monaco, and to beat the Monegasque driver in qualifying is no mean feat, as Hamilton found out in 2025 when he went down 19-5 to Leclerc in grand prix qualifying sessions.

But this year, the pair are now at 3-3, and that has helped Hamilton to be claiming better race results too, as he pulled out a 15-point lead over Leclerc last weekend.

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Hamilton's defiant statement: 'I still have it'

After his qualifying super show, Hamilton clapped back at critics of his performances last year, and made a defiant statement that he still has what it takes to compete with Leclerc and the other young drivers around him.

"All weekend, I think for us, apart from wanting more downforce globally, I think when we arrived on Thursday we saw other people, those guys with trick additions to their wing, we didn’t have that, which was a little bit of a surprise," Hamilton told media.

"But as I said, our pace was looking good. In general, to go quicker, we needed more front end. We got to qualifying and had a lot of front end, and I had to take out like ten holes of front wing for some reason. So, once I took out the ten holes, the car was a little bit more reasonable by my last lap in Q3. But I needed that balance to start in Q1 and then build upon that, because it’s all about confidence. It was completely gone in Q1 and then I was trying to pull back what I could. So, I’m relatively happy with P3. Obviously, P1 is what I really wanted and I really felt like the team deserved to finally get it. And I felt capable.

Hamilton was pleased with his performance in Monaco.

"I’m in a really good place with the car, I’m in a really good place with the team, and you can see that I have decent pace still in me. There’s no lack of pace, which I’m really grateful for and happy about, regardless of all the negative comments people have made over the times. So, it’s good. Just keep on putting the work in and I’ll keep showing up and I’ll keep delivering."

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Monaco Grand Prix