Lewis Hamilton will be hoping to make it two wins in a row at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix this weekend as he looks to overtake title rival Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' championship. The Mercedes driver is currently six points behind the Ferrari driver and a win at Monaco will take him to the top of the leader board.
While winning the race will definitely be on Hamilton's mind, this race could be a special occasion for him if he qualifies in pole position. This would be the 65th of his career and he would match his idol Ayrton Senna's record for most number of poles. He would be in second place along with Senna and just three behind Michael Schumacher.
Also read: Changes made to Monte-Carlo track ahead of 2017 Monaco Grand Prix
"Coming here this weekend, it just doesn't seem real that growing up I would be watching the grand prix on video. Every time I'd come home from school and watch Ayrton race and watch the onboard footage of him racing around Monaco," The Sun quoted Hamilton as saying.
"Now I'm one away from matching his qualifying record which just doesn't seem real. I feel very honoured to be up and amongst the greats. But I don't feel like there is any pressure. If it happens this weekend, it happens. If it doesn't, it will happen. I will get another pole at some stage, for as long as I live."
However, after results from the second practice session, Hamilton fell way behind the pace set by his Ferrari rival. The Brit was the fastest during the first practice session on Thursday but in the second practice session later in the day, he struggled a lot as he finished eighth on the time sheets.
Vettel put in the fastest ever lap time recorded in Monaco with a time of 1min 12.720sec and the Mercedes team will have a lot of work to do today if they are to keep up with Ferrari. Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas also suffered a similar problem as he finished fourth in first practice and 10th in second practice.
Hamilton and Bottas and the entire Mercedes will have to work really hard today and tomorrow through the third practice session and hope they can work out their problems before the qualifying session starts. It's more important that they get the Brits car fixed in time as another disappointing performance could see him slip further down in the world champion race.
