Lewis Hamilton says he "couldn't be closer" to a first grand prix victory for Ferrari amid his best run of form since joining the Italian team.
The seven-time world champion endured a disappointing debut campaign with Ferrari after joining from Mercedes ahead of the 2025 season, but has made a far more encouraging start to his second campaign in red.
After claiming his first grand prix podium for Ferrari in China in March, Hamilton has added back-to-back second places in Canada and Monaco over the last two rounds.
Those results have lifted the 41-year-old to second in the Drivers' Championship, albeit 66 points back from Kimi Antonelli, who has won each of the last five races for Mercedes.
Asked after Sunday's race in Monaco how close he feels a first win for Ferrari is, Hamilton, who holds F1's all-time record with 105 victories, replied: "I mean, it couldn't be closer.
"But it's still 66 points. I can't believe that I'm second in the championship and I'm really happy and thankful for that."
Antonelli replaced Hamilton at Mercedes last year and after a challenging rookie campaign, has exceeded all expectations by dominating the early stages of the 2026 season.
The 19-year-old Italian is thriving in the system that helped Hamilton to six of his seven titles, with Antonelli working under the leadership of Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and having also inherited the Brit's former race engineer Peter Bonnington.
Hamilton said: "He (Antonelli) is doing a phenomenal job. He's got an amazing team around him with Bono, with Toto and the whole team. And I'm really happy to see them doing what they do best. And then for him in this moment to be delivering on the level that he's delivering at, it's awesome to see.
"It just encourages me to want to level up, and I think encourages everybody wanting to level up. And he's only 19, so just imagine what the future holds for him.
"But I'm going to do my best to try and chase him down for the rest of the year. And as I said, just really, it's a real privilege to witness it, be on the podium with two of the youngest guys here. Very much kind of remind me of me when I was back in 2007."
Hamilton's disappointing 2025 campaign, during which there were times when he appeared to lose self-belief, led to speculation over how long he would remain in the sport.
He erased any short-term doubt over his future in Canada last month when he said he intended to be around for years to come amid people "trying to retire" him.
Having backed up second in Montreal with the same result in Monaco, a track where he had failed to claim a podium in his five previous appearances, Hamilton felt he had delivered another statement.
He said: "To have two seconds, especially I think with a good race in Montreal, and everyone was kind of like, 'yeah, but he's quick there'.
"I feel like I'm in a period where I'm having to remind people of who I am, and I think my fans last year were telling me to remind me of who I am, and now I'm having to show up each weekend and try to do that.
"I think it's great to see that it's like a rejuvenated love in the team, and I think their belief also in me and the decision in hiring me and everything. So, I'm very happy."
Hamilton reserved special praise for Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur as he reiterated his belief that changes he demanded during his first year with the team are now paying off.
"I couldn't have done that without this team, without the reliability that we have, and also with Fred," Hamilton added.
"Fred has been awesome in supporting me. I think last year was really tough for both of us and [I've been] begging him for certain changes, and he pulled through and he did those, and now I'm seeing the fruits of that and I'm able to finally deliver for them.
"I think it's still very early days in the season, so we just have to keep chasing. It's actually easier to chase than it is to defend, I would say, in life.
"And so, whilst these guys are very quick and they're an amazing team, we're going to keep pushing, keep chasing, and I have no doubt at some stage we're going to get there."
Formula 1 heads straight to Spain for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix with live coverage on Your Site F1 from this Friday.
