Lewis Hamilton is leaving Imola brimming with confidence about Ferrari’s potential after scoring his best grand prix result of the season so far in the race.
Having started 12th, he gained places through his strategy early on. Over the final laps Hamilton passed team mate Charles Leclerc and Alexander Albon to take fourth place.He said being able to race through the field was especially enjoyable at Ferrari’s home race.
“To drive in front of the Tifosi today and this weekend has been the highlight of the year so far,” he told the official F1 channel. “There’s a lot of pressure on us as a team with struggling through the year so far with the car and particularly to have such a strong race and to be moving forward, making ground. It was such a great feeling.
“For me, I haven’t had a race – I don’t remember the last time I had a race like that where you were moving forwards. I’m sure there was one maybe last year – but this one is different obviously because I’m in the red car. I haven’t done that yet.
“So to finally have that connection, that synergy with the car today and progressing was a really great feeling.”
Coming a day after Ferrari suffered the disappointment of both cars dropping out before Q2, Hamilton was encouraged by their performance in race trim.
“I don’t want to jinx it,” he said. “For sure there’s lots of positives to take away from today.
“We had pace so we really need to dissect and understand where and why. I did think we would make an improvement this weekend with something we tried to fix and I think there’s more to come.
“But the set-up was really good. The car felt fricking mega, set-up-wise. And as I said, the strategy team did a fantastic job with strategy calls and pit stops. So overall mega job for Ferrari.”
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2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
- Antonelli was tiring from home race at Imola attention by Friday – Wolff
- Ferrari struggling to recreate set-up which “worked well” in Shanghai – Hamilton
- Verstappen told Red Bull to use Tsunoda before “hold him up” call
- ‘Saturdays have been mine for years but for some reason it’s drifted away’ – Norris
- “Plan C?”: Why McLaren only got their strategy right for one driver at Imola
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
18th May 2025, 17:24
What’s “fricking mega” in Italian?
Jere (@jerejj)
18th May 2025, 17:42
‘Fottutamente mega’ for your information, lol.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
18th May 2025, 17:49
Molto magnum
Applebook
18th May 2025, 23:54
It must be “luckbox.” Without that SC luck, he gets nowhere near his own teammate.
debaser91
18th May 2025, 17:34
He got really, really lucky with the timing of the VSC, but he got screwed quite a lot in the last few years with unfortunately timed SCs and VSCs, so I guess he was owed one.
Positive is that in clear air both he and Leclerc looked pretty quick, quicker than everyone apart from the McLarens and Max. Negative is the terrible qualifying, this time for both cars, they can’t keep starting in the midfield if they want to consistently fight for podiums.
Edvaldo
18th May 2025, 17:59
What saved him was the SC and the pitstop back to hard tyres, not VSC. VSC was too early for his strategy.
Ajaxn
18th May 2025, 21:04
Hamilton made his own luck. He was driving long, tracking Antonelli. That long stint made all the difference.
Even without the VSC, Hamilton would have made up places. That said, the mediums might not have lasted to the end of the race.
And then Antonelli’s car gave up, for the SC, which you have say was due to the pressure Hamilton placed on him. So Yeah, Hamilton made his own luck.
connor
18th May 2025, 17:36
Maledettamente mega according to google translate
debaser91
18th May 2025, 18:29
I don’t agree, the VSC saved his race. He was net P12 before the VSC and net P7 (P6 on the road with Piastri close behind) afterwards, it saved him a bunch of time and most importantly got him ahead of both Astons, Russell, Leclerc, and Sainz. And it got him out of the Trulli train and meant he could use the speed of the car.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
18th May 2025, 18:56
I can’t yet figure out if the VSC was good or bad for him. The cars he cleared (Russell, Sainz, Leclerc and the Astons all had to stop again with their strategy and really (with the exception of Leclerc) had no pace against him today. It also didn’t free him of the Trulli train, he still had to pass them on the road and it came a bit early for a comfortable last stint on mediums. It did safe him 10 seconds of race time and help him to gain track position over Leclerc though. In the end it probably didn’t make a huge difference. Except for Leclerc he beat all cars he probably would have beaten anyway.
Ajaxn
18th May 2025, 21:10
Hamilton’s mediums against the other cars hard tire choses, was telling after that long stint. That and the DRS he got by sticking close to Antonelli, made the difference. We’ll never know if he would have kept the Medium till the end, or have the other cars come back at him. All in all the strategy worked.
Ferdi
19th May 2025, 7:13
If lady luck finds his way back to him, we might be in for Lewis 2.0. He is right not wanting to jinx it.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th May 2025, 10:26
This is exactly what it happens when you join Ferrari: you’re ecstatic after saving face. That’s how worried they are at failing. It’s a pressure cooker there…
joe jopling (@jop452)
20th May 2025, 16:13
I think the change to the car was giving him a brake pedal he was used to driving with…Maybe not Monaco( too many rookies will crash) but after that, watch him go