Hamilton to show those Monacoans what real spirit is made of

All the greats will be swanning around in Monaco at the weekend, most of them drinking champagne from a golden slipper just to demonstrate how wealthy and brilliant they are. Not amongst them, however, will be Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, who will be zooming around a race track instead, listening to his walkman, showing the world that last year was no fluke - no sir.

Ten reasons why Hamilton will end the Ferrari dominance:

1. British drivers have had more wins at Monaco than any other nationality, with thirteen in total.

2. McLaren have won eleven of the past twenty Monaco Grands Prix, compared to three for Ferrari.

3. While McLaren won the race last year, Ferrari’s last Monaco triumph came in 2001.

4. That win came when Michael Schumacher was racing, the last Ferrari driver besides him to win the race was Gilles Villeneuve in 1981.

5. Kimi Raikkonen has only finished two of his seven Monaco Grand Prix in the top seven.

6. And Massa’s five Monaco Grand Prix outings have reaped just one third and one fifth-placed finish.

7. Hamilton finished second on his debut last year, just four seconds shy of then team-mate Fernando Alonso, who is uncompetitive this year.

8. chickendinner superfact: And if there were any doubts about Alonso challenging, only two drivers in the last 40 years have won three straight Monaco Grands Prix - Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna - both in McLarens.

9. After being 46.548 seconds behind the Ferrari winner in Malaysia and a lap behind in Bahrain, Hamilton has caught the Ferraris to finish 4.187 seconds behind in Spain and 3.779 behind in Turkey, ahead of Raikkonen too.

10. Since 1996 no driver has won at Monaco starting lower than third. Hamilton has qualified in the top three in 15 of his last 18 races and qualified second last year.

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