Max was pessimistic about being on Ferrari’s level in Singapore - he spoke about the straights where they’ll lose a lot of time. RB have actually been further away from the ultimate pace since Canada than before, so I think they also wouldn’t have such an advantage at Monaco today as they did in May (or whenever it was) - Ferrari and Mercedes have heavily upgraded their chasses as well as their engines.
Which is not to say they won’t be in the hunt for pole but I suspect Ferrari, especially Vettel, will be too - for me, the question mark is Mercedes whose worst track even in the dominant years was Singapore; as I said before, their race pace last year ended up being good, but I think that owed a lot to w drying/low grip track. I suspect they could again be the third best car in Singapore, at least in quali.
Also, I don’t buy for a second that Ferrari suddenly ‘eat’ their tyres - the soft tyres blister more in hot conditions because they don’t wear much, so the heat can’t dissipate; with Kimi (and Seb for that matter) having to push hard for a sustained period right at the start of their stints, this causes the blisters.
Kimi is also just not capable of being at the leading pace throughout a Grand Prix distance any more - we’ve seen that time and again through his stint at Ferrari, and to some extent during his previous one (remember in 2009 when he’d suddenly do a fastest lap at the end of races? Where was that pace before?); so it’s no surprise he can’t lead the charge vs Hamilton who’s extracting the maximum lap after lap - I very much doubt Kimi would have stretched the gap to Lewis in Spa either.
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