After a disastrous qualifying session at the F1 Imola GP that saw Lewis Hamilton exit in Q2 after qualifying twelfth, the Brit and Ferrari had the mammoth task of attempting to climb up the field at a tough circuit to pass on.
Thanks to starting on the hard compound, the Brit had the opportunity to extend his first stint and only pit during the virtual safety car. This allowed him to pull off impressive overtakes on fresher medium tyres, his third stint on the hards also saw him benefit from the Safety Car, managing to climb up to fourth as he overtook Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon.
Lewis Hamilton believes podium was possible with better qualifying in F1 Imola GP
Speaking in the print media pen after the race, Hamilton shared his enthusiasm for the performance and praised the team’s strategic execution, saying: “China was pretty great, but I would say this is always better. I’ve always loved when you’re fighting from further back and coming through, that’s how I started off as a kid. That’s always such a better feeling than starting first and finishing first. But definitely an absolutely mega race, so many positives to take away.“
He reflected on the flow of the race and how it unfolded in his favour over time after getting bottled up behind Antonelli in the first stint.
“Just the whole thing was entertaining. Obviously at the beginning it wasn’t spectacular. I got a decent start I kind of got squeezed in and I lost ground to McLaren.
“Mercedes [Antonelli] then had this hard tyre and I was just sitting there waiting. I definitely had to be patient, just breathe. And then bit by bit strategy started to pan out and the car really came alive when I got onto the medium tyres and got called at the end to switch.
“There’s tonnes of positives today. One is the strategy was really fantastic today, they made great calls, didn’t put a foot wrong there. For the first time since China I felt really aligned with the car and then the only other time is today. I felt that real synergy.”
Very strong race pace
Despite a season troubled by set-up issues and a lack of pace in qualifying, the race speed was very strong once again. Lewis Hamilton nearly secured a podium, finishing only 1.4s behind Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.
“And I think the set-up was great. We made a bit of an improvement in our performance for the race. We just got to unlock the potential in qualifying. If we had qualified better, we would have been fighting for a podium, which is something we didn’t think would be possible.”
Looking at the race’s closing stages, he admitted more than one or two laps would have been required to pass Oscar Piastri who was on far older rubber at the end.
“I needed probably another 5 laps or something like that to really get close enough to really challenge. So McLaren is still damn fast on all tyres.”
The connection with the Tifosi
Imola marked Hamilton’s first race for Ferrari on Italian soil, and the Brit was visibly moved by the crowd’s passion.
He spoke about soaking in the atmosphere and the unique experience of racing in front of the Tifosi as a Scuderia Ferrari driver.
“It’s been pretty nice, what an amazing experience already. Just like on the driver’s parade lap all the drivers were doing their normal talking, but I really wanted to see it. I even took a picture of it. There’s a memorial of Ayrton, but just taking pictures on film of the crowd just to see it.
“It was just really very reminiscent of when I was growing up watching it. Sitting at home on my couch, having a bacon sandwich, watching Michael Schumacher here racing with Ferrari and seeing the connection.
“It was quite an incredible experience. To think that I’m now here in one of the two Ferraris and having that connection with it, such a large passion from the people, it’s unbelievable.
“At Silverstone, it’s a connection more so with me as a Brit, which is super special and I love it. This one, it’s like you can just see how passionate they are for Ferrari. I guess it doesn’t matter who’s in it; they just love to see the red car. It’s like the red car comes and they get so excited, red! it’s amazing to see it’s really cool.”
