Lewis Hamilton is leaving Imola brimming with confidence about Ferrari’s potential after scoring his best grand prix result of the season so far in the race.
Having started 12th, he gained places through his strategy early on. Over the final laps Hamilton passed team mate Charles Leclerc and Alexander Albon to take fourth place.
He said being able to race through the field was especially enjoyable at Ferrari’s home race.
“To drive in front of the Tifosi today and this weekend has been the highlight of the year so far,” he told the official F1 channel. “There’s a lot of pressure on us as a team with struggling through the year so far with the car and particularly to have such a strong race and to be moving forward, making ground. It was such a great feeling.
“For me, I haven’t had a race – I don’t remember the last time I had a race like that where you were moving forwards. I’m sure there was one maybe last year – but this one is different obviously because I’m in the red car. I haven’t done that yet.
“So to finally have that connection, that synergy with the car today and progressing was a really great feeling.”
Coming a day after Ferrari suffered the disappointment of both cars dropping out before Q2, Hamilton was encouraged by their performance in race trim.
“I don’t want to jinx it,” he said. “For sure there’s lots of positives to take away from today.
“We had pace so we really need to dissect and understand where and why. I did think we would make an improvement this weekend with something we tried to fix and I think there’s more to come.
“But the set-up was really good. The car felt fricking mega, set-up-wise. And as I said, the strategy team did a fantastic job with strategy calls and pit stops. So overall mega job for Ferrari.”
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