Following his impressive recovery drive to fourth place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton expressed confidence that his Ferrari team is nearing the capability to win races.
Hamilton started from a challenging 12th position at Imola but executed a strong race on Sunday. He capitalised on a Virtual Safety Car and later a full Safety Car period, making crucial overtakes on George Russell, Alex Albon, and teammate Charles Leclerc in the closing laps to finish behind race winner Max Verstappen and the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Speaking over the team radio after the race at Ferrari`s home track, his first in Italy as a Scuderia driver, he told the team, “Let`s keep pushing.” He added, “If we can get that qualifying better and we can race like that then we`ll be winning.”
Ferrari had introduced updates to their car, including changes to the rear corner and rear wing, hoping to improve pace at Imola. However, both Hamilton and Leclerc faced difficulties managing their tyres during qualifying, resulting in them missing out on Q3.
The seven-time world champion admitted that Saturday`s qualifying was “devastating” for the team, leaving him with low expectations for challenging for significant points in Sunday`s race.
His initial hopes were dampened further when he lost a position to Kimi Antonelli at the start. However, he benefited from running a longer first stint than many competitors and then used fresh tyres gained during the Safety Car period to propel himself from seventh to fourth late in the race.
Reflecting on his performance, Hamilton stated, “We didn`t expect the result that we had today. We came into the weekend very hopeful and there was a small fix that came for a component that we were hoping was going to help us progress – which it did.” He added, “Then we went into qualifying and to be out of Q3 was tough to swallow, but I came in today and everyone`s heads were high and super driven.”
Praising the team`s strategy, he said, “They did such a fantastic job with the strategy. The timing was right, calm and concise and clear – and I felt I won with the car.”
This positive view on strategy contrasted with his frustration at the previous race in Miami, where he felt a crucial call to let him pass Leclerc was delayed. At Imola, however, Hamilton felt Ferrari made the right strategic decisions, suggesting he might have contested for a podium spot if the Safety Car period caused by Antonelli`s car had concluded sooner.
“It felt so great to finally get the set-up right and to have that bond with the car throughout the race,” he commented. “I`m ecstatic. It would have been great to have had some more laps and challenged for a podium.”
He continued, “I think we`re slowly getting there and I think me and [race engineer Riccardo Adami] did a fantastic job with his communication with me. I was calm, so then I think he was calm, and the team were calm and executing the strategy, and the pit stops were awesome.”
Villeneuve: Ferrari`s Pace Questionable
However, not everyone shared Hamilton`s optimism. Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve expressed reservations about Ferrari`s immediate prospects for race victories, believing that Saturday`s qualifying performance was a more accurate reflection of the team`s current limitations.
The qualifying was not because they messed up, the pace simply was not there. So you can`t have a turnaround with that. You still need the whole card, the whole team, it needs to get better. Obviously, as we saw today, Lewis is capable when it`s there. When there`s an occasion, he rises like he did today.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur also adopted a cautious approach, urging against reading too much into one race result regarding the team`s future prospects.
We have to stop this where if Lewis has a good weekend everything is perfect or if it`s not a good weekend, everything is a disaster. We have to take it easy, stay calm and work together. I`m very pleased with the job done by everyone in the team today. Lewis and Charles did a good job, strategy did a good job. The only way for us to come back is to work as a team.
Marcus Prine