Hamilton scores a season’s best performance in Imola

Lewis Hamilton was buzzing after his first Formula One race in Italy for Ferrari went from Saturday devastation to Sunday delight.

Ferrari’s worst qualifying performance in seven races this season, with Charles Leclerc 11th and Hamilton 12th, was branded a “disaster” by Italian media, but fans were cheering again a day later at Imola.

Hamilton finished a season’s best fourth while Leclerc was an unhappy sixth, a considerable improvement on where he started.

It was the first time since he joined from Mercedes in January that seven-time world champion Hamilton had beaten his teammate at Ferrari, apart from winning the sprint race in Shanghai.

“China was great, but I would say this one was better,” the Briton told reporters. “I’ve always loved when you’re fighting from further back and coming through. That’s how I started off as a kid. It’s such a better feeling than starting first and finishing first. Definitely an absolutely mega race and so many positives to take from it. Tonnes of positives to take from today.”

Hamilton said Ferrari got the strategy right and it was the first time he had felt aligned with the car since China.

“I think we made a bit of an improvement in our performance for the race. We’ve got to unlock the potential in qualifying,” he said. “If we had qualified better, we would have been fighting for a podium, which is something we didn’t think would be possible.”

Hamilton lost out at the start to Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old who took his vacated seat at Mercedes, but bided his time on the hard tyres until switching to the mediums when the car came alive. The Briton has plenty of experience of his home fans at Silverstone, but recognised racing in Italy for Ferrari was something else.

Organisers put the attendance at 242,000 for the weekend, up from 200,000 last year. Even if some are sceptical of the official figures, there was no denying the wave of redshirted fans flooding Ferrari’s home circuit with their flags and banners and crowding the catch fences.

“It’s been incredible. What an amazing experience,” said Hamilton, who had only previously experienced it from the other side as a driver the crowd hoped to see beaten.

On the parade lap, while other drivers talked among themselves, he filmed the scene, taking in the memorial to late triple champion Ayrton Senna, who died at Imola in 1994, and the sea of red.

Hamilton said it had reminded him also of his youth, sitting at home on a couch with a bacon sandwich while Ferrari great Michael Schumacher connected with the “tifosi” and was lifted by their warmth and enthusiasm.

“It was quite an incredible experience to think I’m here in one of the two Ferraris and having that connection with such a passionate group of people. It’s unbelievable,” he said.

“You can see how passionate people are for Ferrari. I guess it doesn’t matter who’s in it, they love to see the red cars. The red car comes and they get so excited: Red, red. It’s amazing to see, it’s cool.”

Reuters