‘It’s everything you could ever hope for’ – Hamilton praises Tifosi as he reflects on first Monza weekend with Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton was left in awe by the crowds at the Italian Grand Prix as he put on a show in his first race at Monza as a Ferrari driver, charging through the field to take sixth place having started 10th.

After his team mate Charles Leclerc’s fairytale victory at the circuit last season, expectations were high for the Maranello outfit, especially following the disappointing previous round in Zandvoortwhere both drivers failed to finish the race.

Hamilton proved he meant business as he topped the first practice session of the weekend before securing a strong fifth position in Qualifying. However, he was demoted to 10th place on the grid due to a grid penalty he received for failing to slow under yellow flags ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

A magnificent launch saw him claw back positions at lights out, and he quickly slipped past his old rival Fernando Alonso to take P7 in the early laps. From there, he chased down Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto for sixth, which is where he remained throughout the race despite some attempts to close the gap to George Russell.

“There was definitely some good overtaking,” he later said. “It was tough coming from where I was to then try and catch up to all these other cars.

“Sitting in traffic for periods of time, obviously you lose time to the cars up ahead and you eat more of your tyres up.”

He seemed content with his first Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari, summarising: “I’m genuinely quite happy with the overall performance, and I think that’s as good as we could have got. We possibly could have got fifth if we had maybe undercut Mercedes, but we just missed it, I think.”

Claiming his best result since the British Grand Prix, the seven-time World Champion was buoyed by the immense support shown by the Tifosi, who turned up in their thousands to cheer him and Leclerc on.

Hamilton said: “It’s everything you could ever hope for. Of course, you want to be fighting at the front but it’s unbelievable to just be on the receiving end. It’s Ferrari all the way around the track.

“You see the pit straight now – it’s as far as the eye can see. It’s a dream to drive for this team, and I’m really just going to work as hard as I can to one day stand on the top of that podium. That’s my dream.”