Hamilton posted the quickest time throughout practice, with the McLaren star’s intent clear as he aims to go one better than his second-placed finish of a year ago.
It could all be in vain, though, because despite clear blue skies dominating across the Cote d’Azur, rain is forecast this weekend.
In dry conditions, Hamilton did all that was asked of him as he was comfortably fastest by almost 0.4secs from the Williams of Nico Rosberg.
McLaren star Lewis Hamilton says the Monaco Grand Prix could turn into a “disaster” if rain falls in Monte Carlo this weekend.
“It will be especially difficult here in the wet, especially this year without traction control,” he said.
“Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren’s test driver) made a comment at the last test that it is incredibly difficult to get to full throttle here in the wet.
“With this circuit being so tight, I think it’s going to be a disaster.”
The 23-year-old’s lap of one minute 15.140secs was almost 0.6secs quicker than Fernando Alonso’s pole position of last season.
Hamilton knows if he is to take the chequered flag on Sunday, he has to follow in the footsteps of his former team-mate and be at the head of affairs come the start of the race.
Double world champion Mika Hakkinen believes Lewis Hamilton is a man under pressure inside McLaren.
Lewis has an interesting career in front of him at the moment, but he is living in a very extreme situation,” remarked Hakkinen.
“He started his career at McLaren with a double world champion team-mate (Fernando Alonso), and I’m sure he got a lot of good information from him.
“I’m sure Lewis learned a lot from him in terms of how to operate inside a team and how to set the car up.
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