MONACO, May 25 (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton's Monaco mantra has become all too familiar to McLaren's hard-pressed engineers ahead of the glamour race of the Formula One season this weekend.
The 26-year-old Briton is the only driver to have beaten Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel so far this year and he is determined to repeat the feat on Sunday at
his favourite street circuit.
Over and again, Hamilton has been sending his team the same message whenever improvements to the car are mentioned: "I need it for Monaco, I need it for Monaco.
"I'm pushing my team like crazy. I can't imagine anyone pushes their team as much as me," the 2008 champion, who won in Monaco that year, told Reuters after he finished second to Vettel in last Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.
"I'm always saying 'This bit, this bit', 'You need to push it', and 'When's that piece for? It's for Montreal? I need it for Monaco.' I'm pushing them to bring things, just encouraging them as well.
"I'd love to win Monaco."
Hamilton loves threading his snarling McLaren through the tight and twisty streets of the Mediterranean principality, skimming the unforgiving metal barriers and roaring up the hill into Casino square.
Vettel has yet to win there, finishing second to Australian team mate Mark Webber last year, but the championship leader is in the form of his life.
The 23-year-old has won four of the five races this season, finishing second to Hamilton in China, and started on pole in four of them as well.
STORMING AWAY
However, Monaco is a race like no other and pole position, despite the difficulty of overtaking, has only produced six of the last 10 winners. Hamilton is confident he can take the fight to the German.
"At the moment the only person who has an answer to Sebastian is me, and in a car that is not as good as his, and I'm quite happy with that," he said.
"There will be times, when it's not at a track that is massively dominated by aerodynamics where he is pulling a gap, that I'll be able to pass him.
"We've two great races coming up, and hopefully the gap will be closer," added the Briton. "In Montreal I've always been quick there, and he has no high-speed corners to pull out a gap on me. And Monaco hopefully we'll be quick there.
"So that's two opportunities to get 25 points. He's now 41 points ahead isn't he? I'm doing everything I can but he's storming away."
Last year's race was Vettel's first time on the Monaco podium, after a retirement in 2009, and there are plenty of others with more stellar records there.
Hamilton's team mate Jenson Button was a winner in 2009, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won with Renault and McLaren in 2006 and 2007 and Mercedes's Michael Schumacher was triumphant with Benetton and Ferrari in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2001.
Ferrari have not won in Monaco since that last Schumacher success and will be eager to put on a much better performance with the new Pirelli super-soft tyres after struggling embarrassingly with the hard rubber in Barcelona.
Drivers will be allowed to use the new moveable rear wing (DRS) system on the pit straight, but not at the fastest point in the tunnel, which could offer the rare sight of overtaking on Sunday afternoon.
"There are a lot of question marks going into this year's race in terms of how the tyres will be and the strategy could be the most complicated of the year," said Webber, still chasing his first win of the season.
"It's a track that I've always seemed to do reasonably well at and I have some of my best memories as a racing driver there."
The 26-year-old Briton is the only driver to have beaten Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel so far this year and he is determined to repeat the feat on Sunday at
his favourite street circuit.
Over and again, Hamilton has been sending his team the same message whenever improvements to the car are mentioned: "I need it for Monaco, I need it for Monaco.
"I'm pushing my team like crazy. I can't imagine anyone pushes their team as much as me," the 2008 champion, who won in Monaco that year, told Reuters after he finished second to Vettel in last Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.
"I'm always saying 'This bit, this bit', 'You need to push it', and 'When's that piece for? It's for Montreal? I need it for Monaco.' I'm pushing them to bring things, just encouraging them as well.
"I'd love to win Monaco."
Hamilton loves threading his snarling McLaren through the tight and twisty streets of the Mediterranean principality, skimming the unforgiving metal barriers and roaring up the hill into Casino square.
Vettel has yet to win there, finishing second to Australian team mate Mark Webber last year, but the championship leader is in the form of his life.
The 23-year-old has won four of the five races this season, finishing second to Hamilton in China, and started on pole in four of them as well.
STORMING AWAY
However, Monaco is a race like no other and pole position, despite the difficulty of overtaking, has only produced six of the last 10 winners. Hamilton is confident he can take the fight to the German.
"At the moment the only person who has an answer to Sebastian is me, and in a car that is not as good as his, and I'm quite happy with that," he said.
"There will be times, when it's not at a track that is massively dominated by aerodynamics where he is pulling a gap, that I'll be able to pass him.
"We've two great races coming up, and hopefully the gap will be closer," added the Briton. "In Montreal I've always been quick there, and he has no high-speed corners to pull out a gap on me. And Monaco hopefully we'll be quick there.
"So that's two opportunities to get 25 points. He's now 41 points ahead isn't he? I'm doing everything I can but he's storming away."
Last year's race was Vettel's first time on the Monaco podium, after a retirement in 2009, and there are plenty of others with more stellar records there.
Hamilton's team mate Jenson Button was a winner in 2009, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won with Renault and McLaren in 2006 and 2007 and Mercedes's Michael Schumacher was triumphant with Benetton and Ferrari in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2001.
Ferrari have not won in Monaco since that last Schumacher success and will be eager to put on a much better performance with the new Pirelli super-soft tyres after struggling embarrassingly with the hard rubber in Barcelona.
Drivers will be allowed to use the new moveable rear wing (DRS) system on the pit straight, but not at the fastest point in the tunnel, which could offer the rare sight of overtaking on Sunday afternoon.
"There are a lot of question marks going into this year's race in terms of how the tyres will be and the strategy could be the most complicated of the year," said Webber, still chasing his first win of the season.
"It's a track that I've always seemed to do reasonably well at and I have some of my best memories as a racing driver there."
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