Formula One will chalk up a notable first if Lewis Hamilton wins the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
Never before has the sport seen six different winners in the first six races of a season and McLaren's 2008 world champion has yet to open his 2012 victory account going into his favourite race.
Hamilton, winner in the Mediterranean principality in his title year, has every chance of standing on the top step of the podium, as well as chalking up McLaren's 150th pole after being denied it in Barcelona due to a fuel error.
Bookmakers William Hill have the Briton as their 3-1 favourite, with double world champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso both at 5-1 for Red Bull and Ferrari respectively.
In this most unpredictable of seasons, anything could happen however. "We go to Monaco with the belief that we can win but anyone who makes predictions at the moment in this sport would be nuts," said McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh.
Despite his love of the tight and twisting street circuit, Hamilton has never started on pole in Monaco where overtaking is extremely tricky, even with KERS and moveable rear wings, and grid position has been crucial. He has, however, made the podium twice and in the points on four of his five visits.
"I think he is [a favourite]," said Whitmarsh. "And he thinks that and that's good and he's in that frame of mind. He deserves it. We've got to work hard and make sure he's got a good car, don't make any mistakes and that he's in a position to fulfil his potential at a circuit where he's won in Formula Three, GP2 and Formula One."
Hamilton has started two of this season's races on pole and it would have been three had McLaren not made an error with that fuel calculation in Spain. The team have also had a string of pit lane blunders that have cost them dear.
If Hamilton fails to win on Sunday, there are still plenty of others who could add to the list of different winners – starting with the Lotus pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.
Lotus, formerly Renault, are celebrating the 500th race for the Enstone-based team and 2007 champion Raikkonen also has previous in Monaco. The Finn won there from pole in 2005 with McLaren and also started on the front row in 2003, 2008 and 2009.
Vettel's Australian team- mate Mark Webber was a Monaco winner in 2010 but has yet to stand on the podium this season.
If there is to be a repeat winner for the first time this year, then there are three Monaco masters lining up – last year's winner Vettel, Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button, who triumphed in 2009 and Alonso, who won with Renault in 2006 and McLaren in 2007.
Nico Rosberg grew up in the principality and knows every twist and turn while Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, winner in Spain, cannot be ruled out, either.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article