Hamilton left to rue personal performance: 'Would've beaten a Ferrari'
F1 News
Lewis Hamilton was left regretting his own personal qualifying performance as he believes more would've been possible in the Italian Grand Prix. Though Hamilton did express how Mercedes were missing 'one or two tenths' in race pace on Sunday. The Brit eventually finished fifth, behind only McLaren and the race-winning team Ferrari.
Hamilton was furious with his qualifying performance in Italy. Hamilton did make it through to Q3, but was three grid slots behind his teammate George Russell. The Brit even confessed that he felt the team deserved a much better performance and claimed they might get that with Andrea Kimi Antonelli in 2025.
Russell lost out in a first corner tussell, and Hamilton eventually moved himself up to P5 to take home 10 World Championship points. But he promises more would've been possible without the qualifying struggle.
What did Hamilton lack in Italy?
In a conversation with the media present in Italy, including GPblog, Hamilton was asked what was lacking. "My qualifying performance at the end yesterday," was Hamilton's first thought before also looking at the Mercedes car. "And then just race pace. We had more degradation and just generally lacking one or two tenths in the race."
"I probably could have finished ahead of one Ferrari if I had been further ahead [on the starting grid]," Hamilton said, insisting a P4 or better was on the cards for the seven-time World Champion. "We just didn't have the pace. We have to go and look and try to understand why. Also because we looked better on Friday. We almost got slower through the weekend. Or others got faster. Or we were light [on fuel in practice] and they were heavy," Hamilton concluded.
The next time Hamilton races in Italy, at Imola in May 2025, the Brit will feel the support of the Tifosi. For the start of the 2024 Formula 1 season, Hamilton will switch to the Italian team and wear red.