Hamilton aims to knock record for six in Monaco

Formula One will make history this weekend if a sixth different driver wins the sixth grand prix of the season in Monaco.

Lewis Hamilton will be looking to record his first victory of the campaign in his favourite race, while McLaren will hope to record their 150th pole after being denied it in the last race in Barcelona owing to a fuel error.

"Monaco is something we've been very good at, we've won more Monacos than anyone," said McLaren's team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, yesterday. "We go there with the belief that we can win, but anyone who makes predictions at the moment in this sport would be nuts."

Despite his love of the tight and twisting street circuit, Hamilton has never started on pole in the principality, although he was victorious there in his title-winning year of 2008.

"I think he is [a favourite]," said Whitmarsh. "And he thinks that, and that's good – he's in that frame of mind. 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 a fuel-calculation error in qualifying in Barcelona. A string of pit-lane blunders has also cost the team dear.

If Hamilton fails to win on Sunday, there are plenty of others who could make it six different winners, such as Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean of Lotus, celebrating their 500th race.