McLaren-Mercedes #1 still upbeat.

Britain's Lewis Hamilton has insisted that he is still feeling confident ahead of this Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, despite having missed out on pole.

Hamilton went into qualifying as favourite to take the initiative, however he was unable to beat the Ferraris and will now line-up third, fractionally behind Felipe Massa and current championship leader, Kimi Raikkonen.

The Englishman blamed the cars performance in the second sector for his failure to land P1.

"Obviously I would have preferred to be on pole, but I am pleased with how the car felt and our strategy. The team did a solid job, and I didn't have any problems with traffic," he reflected.

"My two flying laps in the final part of qualifying were good, but I lost a bit of time in the second sector, because I lacked a bit of traction accelerating out of turn eight, and in the third sector, at the last corners, I did not brake as late as I should.

"But we have a good strategy, and I am quite confident for the race - tomorrow anything can happen particularly with the weather forecast promising rain."

McLaren-Mercedes team boss Ron Dennis meanwhile reckons that they could still win, even if pole is critical at the Principality.

"An exciting qualifying with the lap times of the top drivers very close together. Of course, we would have preferred to be on pole; however, in the race we should be looking good with our strategy, consistency and pace," he added.

"Especially in Monaco you can destroy your race with a smaller fuel load and it is easy to make a wrong decision in that respect. With a good start, and if we can stay out longer, even from the second row it is possible to win here.

"We have a good strategy and I expect a very hard fought race in hopefully good weather conditions."