F1 Monza, Hamilton speaks as a Ferrari fan: “Fantastic to see her win”

by VALERIO BARRETTA

Hamilton, words from a Ferrari fan

The one just concluded was his last Monza as a Mercedes driver. Then, Lewis Hamilton will wear red and experience first-hand what it means to race for Ferrari in the Temple of Speed. Maybe he will even experience the same sensations that Charles Leclerc lived today, with that masterpiece of heart and lucid madness that allowed him to outwit a stronger car and go on to win in front of his fans. Hamilton took his hat off to the performance of his next teammate

Hamilton’s words

“Seeing Ferrari win today is fantastic, it must be emotional for Charles. What a circuit to win on! Already in the Drivers Parade I saw Ferrari fans who for the first time looked at me with different eyes and they created a connection with me. They were dressed in red, but it was already different. It’s an interesting passage, and I think it’s going to be really amazing next year“, this is the comment of the British to Sky Sports F1.

“I think McLaren had the pace, but pushed too hard“, he added to his British colleagues. “He did some too fast laps at the beginning and killed the tires. I think he planned to do two stops, so he pushed too hard, if he had stepped back and gone longer he could have done a one stop for sure. I had information on the times they were doing, there was no way they could have made the tires last at that pace. Charles did a fantastic job, so kudos to him”. Speaking of Mercedesinstead, the seven-time world champion takes off the role of external analyst and candidly admits that the top-5 was the maximum result: “Today we didn’t have the pace to fight more. The McLarens and Ferrari were strong. I was able to keep up with Sainz, but I couldn’t extend the stint like he did. If we had started ahead of Carlos, maybe we could have kept him at bay. Ultimately though, we needed a better car balance today to get much more. It’s a shame to come away from a weekend where we looked so strong without getting more. We made a great impression in practice and qualifying, but we couldn’t do the same today. The field is very tight and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next races. We will continue to work hard and hopefully have a stronger race in Baku in two weeks’ time.”.

Russell’s words

Disappointed, of course, was also George Russell, whose race was ruined by a hitch at the first corner.Today was a frustrating day. We didn’t have the pace to fight for the podium, but my race ended at the First Variant. I had a good start, but I got caught in the dirty air behind Piastri. I went into lock-up to avoid it and suffered some damage to the front wing. This compromised my opening stint and we lost time in the pit stop to change the wing itself.“.