Hamilton: Tyres key to Monaco passing

But he is sceptical about whether the DRS wing will make any difference around the streets of Monte Carlo, and thinks that most of the entertainment will be generated by the varying performance of Pirelli's tyres.

"I'm really looking forward to Monaco this year because I think we'll see a different race from previous years. I think a combination of DRS, KERS hybrid and the tyres will really make the racing come alive, and I'd love to see some overtaking action and some hard racing this year," said Hamilton.

"I think the DRS zone at Monaco is only around 300 metres, so it's pretty short, and not really long enough to enable us to really get enough of a launch on the car ahead.

"I think the aerodynamics will only really start working properly once we've reached the braking zone for Ste Devote, so I don't think we'll see too many DRS-assisted overtaking moves next weekend.

"However, I think the tyres will probably give us the greatest scope for excitement and the best chance of passing."

Hamilton played down fears that tyre wear will be unmanageable as Pirelli's super-soft is used for the first time, and thinks that the tyres will just create scope for more entertainment.

"While I don't think the super-soft and soft compounds will be as critical around Monaco as they were at a place like Turkey, I still think the drop-off we encounter as the tyres go off should create opportunities for overtaking," he said.

"And I don't think the marbles will be as bad as people fear, because they tend to occur at the exits of high-speed corners, and Monaco is generally quite a low-speed track, so I don't think we'll see the build-up that we saw at somewhere like Turkey's Turn 8, for example."