• Monaco Grand Prix

Hamilton wants to arrest slide in races

Lewis Hamilton: "We've started high up and finished a little bit further behind from where we started" © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Monaco Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Lewis Hamilton

• Teams:
• McLaren

McLaren needs to improve its performances to make sure it can capitalise on strong grid positions, according to Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton has qualified on the front row for every race so far this season, although twice he has started further back due to penalties. It is only on those two occasions that he has finished the race higher than he started it, with a total loss of ten places in the other three. Despite the inability to convert from pole position so far this season, Hamilton insists he is not frustrated like his team principal Martin Whitmarsh, but says McLaren must improve.

"I'm not frustrated," Hamilton said. "This is the way racing goes sometimes. Of course looking at the qualifying results we've had for the five races we would have loved to have finished further up and we definitely need to improve to make sure we stay where we are or we move forwards. We've started high up and finished a little bit further behind from where we started so we've gone backwards a little bit in most of the races but we're working very hard to make sure that doesn't continue."

Hamilton stopped short of saying he could break that trend at Monaco, pointing out that there are a number of different drivers who are yet to win a race who could target victory.

"I think that there's still some other drivers that have the potential to win races. But it's massively tight between quite a lot of the teams so I think it's wide open and we'll see particularly in this race because the driver can make more of a difference and a car that doesn't work so well at places like Barcelona could work a little bit better here still."

Having made up 16 places in Barcelona due to his exclusion from qualifying, Hamilton added that he was a fan of the current racing format even if it is so unpredictable.

"I really enjoy the racing that we have now, as I've enjoyed it every year, and every year is a new challenge. I think that's what the rules are there to give us; challenges. It is a little bit different where we're not pushing 100% in the race - there's some points in the race where you can really push but not for very long - and it is perhaps more about endurance, it's about making these tyres last. But it is still a challenge to extract the most out of the tyres for a race and a longer period. It still requires skill and technique and finesse to do that stuff and I'm still trying to get that fine touch sorted. But nonetheless it's still Formula One, it's still fun and there's more overtaking which is what people like to see."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.