Lewis Hamilton felt like China in the race in F1 Imola GP after a fight-through from outside Top 10 into points, as Frederic Vasseur reiterates to not make unnecessary headlines.
Ferrari’s Hamilton was certainly downbeat on Saturday after lowly qualifying result in F1 Imola GP outside the Top 10. He felt good in the car, but the performance was just not there – in a similar boat to Charles Leclerc. But the mood changed to opposite on Sunday evening.
A good strategy saw him leap up inside the Top 10 and eventually make a late move on Leclerc and Alexander Albon to finish fourth. A few more laps would have helped him to finish on the podium against a struggling Oscar Piastri. It was the first time that Hamilton felt in-sync after China.
The set-up was perfect to push and extract as much and secure a result in his first visit to Italy as a Ferrari driver. “China was pretty great, but I would say this is always better,” said Hamilton to media. “I’ve always loved when you’re fighting from further back and coming through, that’s how I started off as a kid around my house.
“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. I mean there’s tonnes of positives. One is the strategy was really fantastic today, they made great calls, didn’t put a foot wrong there. China was the only other time I felt really aligned with the car and then in Imola. I felt that real synergy.
“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. I think I needed at least five more laps to do something and really get close enough to challenge the McLarens, who are still damn fast on all the tyres.
“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 Mercedes 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,” summed up Hamilton.
The good mood was taken as a normal situation by team boss Vasseur, who didn’t want media to make it as a break-through situation. One good race didn’t end the troubles and one bad race doesn’t mean it is a disaster either as the Frenchman suggested. It is also normal for drivers to feel differently.
Vasseur states that Hamilton is like any driver, who is constantly improving irrespective of the accolades. “It’s not for Lewis,” he said to media. “We have to stop this. It’s not that when he’s doing a good weekend, everything is perfect. When he’s doing not a good weekend, everything is a disaster. We just have to take it easy and stay calm, work together.
“I’m very pleased with the job done by everybody on the team. It’s not especially Lewis. I think Charles did a good job. The strategists did a very good job. The mechanics did a good job. It’s the only way for us to come back and catch up with the front. We have to work as a team and put all our efforts and resources together to catch up.
“We have to stop. Every single driver is working on himself, working with the team, trying to develop something, trying to do a better job. And it’s not that the Saturday evening he’s not well prepared, not in good condition with the car, and Sunday he’s a magician, and everything is perfect. We just have to stay calm.
“For sure, we need to improve the communication, the forum, the understanding of the process, the tools, the software, and everything. But honestly, he did a very good job in China. He did a very good job in Imola. Step by step, we will be there. I’m very convinced that we will be able to see him perform next week. And I’ve never thought that in two hours of the weekend, he will be there.”
Here’s Charles Leclerc on situation with Alexander Albon
Here’s how F1 Imola GP panned out
