Even for Lewis Hamilton's standards, it was a memorable entrance at this year's Monaco GP, with the Ferrari driver spotted riding the Ducati Panigale V4 S 100 through the iconic narrow streets, attracting attention from fans and photographers gathered around Casino Square and the paddock entrance.

The special edition model created to celebrate Ducati's 100th anniversary has been strictly limited to just 100 units worldwide, making it one of the most exclusive motorcycles currently in existence. Arriving at F1's 'Jewel in the Crown', where supercars, yachts and celebrity appearances are far from rare, the seven-time world champion was still very much able to turn heads.

Elsewhere, Hamilton, among other drivers on the F1 grid, took aim at the increasing costs of karting. The Briton compared his own family's struggles helping him reach the pinnacle of motorsport with that of today's generation, arguing that the growing financial burden is changing the competitive landscape in junior motorsport.

Hamilton said to media, including GPblog: "I know someone who has a kid who is eight years old that is spending over a million dollars a year. When I started, my dad spent around £53,000 in the first year. That was remortgaging the house and maxing out all the credit cards."

He continued: "Rather than who's got the most talent coming through, it's the families with the most money that create more chances for their kids. It's something that's constantly going in the wrong direction, in my opinion. There needs to be some way to make it accessible."

Meanwhile, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc have already been summoned to the FIA stewards in Monaco after being late to Thursday's traditional pre-race drivers' press conference.

Norris and Leclerc were part of the first group of three during the press conference. While Gabriel Bortoleto arrived on time, the defending world champion and the Ferrari man arrived one-minute late, meaning the session could not start at 14:30 local time (13:30 BST).

As a result, and before the first free practice session of the weekend, Norris and Leclerc will have some extra duties in Monte Carlo. Both drivers will have to appear before the stewards on Friday morning. First, it will be Leclerc's turn at 10:00 local time (9:00 BST), followed by Norris at 10:10 CET (9:10 BST).

When they did sit down for the press conference, both drivers raised concerns with 22 cars on track at once during Monaco GP qualifying, after Cadillac's arrival as F1's eleventh team in 2026. Norris commented: "It’ll be tough. It’s already been tough in previous years with people not getting out of the way in the right places and things. It’s tricky."

While Norris expressed some confidence that Qualifying wouldn't be "terrible," Leclerc was adamant the grid faces issues at his home Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver said: "I think it’s a problem. I mean, 22 cars on such a short track I think will be quite tricky, especially because with these cars, I mean, a bit less now, still whenever you are like three, four seconds on tracks like this, you lose a bit of time. So it’s going to be tricky, but it’s the same for everybody and we’ll have to adapt to it. But it’s not ideal for Q1, I think."