Lewis Hamilton predicting big impact on hyper-soft tyre debut at Monaco Grand Prix

The new-for-2018 pink side-walled tyre will be given its debut around the low-grip street circuit having been designed especially for such tracks.

Hamilton was full of praise for the new softest available compound when he first used it in end-of-season testing in Abu Dhabi back in November, praising it as Pirelli’s bet product yet.

The extra pace of the hyper-softs - thought to be around a second per lap quicker than the next hardest compound, the ultrasofts - is likely to see new lap records set around the narrow streets of Monte Carlo.

And Hamilton is looking forward to using it in a race situation for the first time in the glamorous scenery of the principality which he calls home.

Asked whether he expected new all-time lap records to be set this weekend, he responded: “I would imagine so, yeah. 

“They’re resurfaced some areas of the track. It was already very, very grippy last year.

“I think the hyper-soft, I’ve only driven it - I think it was the end of last year maybe, in Abu Dhabi - just one quick run on it, so I don’t really know much about it.

“I’m excited to get back out on the tyre because I know at that time it felt great after lap whatever-it-was. 

“So, I think around here it’ll hopefully be a lot better than all of the other tyres that we’ve run.”

Practice gets underway today with FP1 at 10am and FP2 at 2pm, with teams - including Mercedes - likely to give the hyper-softs a try-out.