Is Lewis Hamilton back? Positive assessment from driver and Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton says he felt “on top” of his Ferrari car as he recovered to sixth place at the Italian Grand Prix.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton made up early ground and finished his first Monza race as a Ferrari driver sixth, having started 10th after a five-place penalty for an infringement ahead of last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished two places behind teammate Charles Leclerc as Ferrari lacked the pace to challenge for a home podium, but the 40-year-old Briton was nevertheless encouraged by the progress he made over the weekend.

“I definitely felt on top of the car today and I was really happy with it,” Hamilton said. “A really good launch, got squeezed between a couple of cars so had to back off but was really happy with my position into Turn 1 and Turn 4.

“After that I got really close to George and in hindsight we should have tried to undercut him. Going long just didn’t pay off. That is something we’ll learn from.

“Otherwise after the penalty to move back to sixth after the penalty I’m really grateful. To be able to have a solid drive like that today in front of the Tifosi – it’s unbelievable driving here under this banner.

“I didn’t deserve to be on the podium today so I won’t be going to the podium but I’ll probably go out to the wall to see [the fans]

“Charles was giving it everything. Max is up there now. We don’t have the pace of Red Bull - today they were rapid - and we don’t have the pace of McLaren. So I think we are fourth, fifth.

“If we do an exceptional job we can maybe get a podium here or there. There’s a chance we can have that but in terms of pure pace we don’t have that.”

Fred Vasseur hails Lewis Hamilton recovery

Hamilton has endured a challenging and disappointing debut season with Ferrari and remains without a grand prix podium in his first 16 races.

But Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has seen enough across the two weekends since the F1 summer break to believe Hamilton has turned a corner.

"He came back. With the penalty he was in the middle of the pack but had a strong first stint,” Vasseur said of Hamilton’s race.

"We tried to have a tyre advantage at the end [against Russell] but the degradation was too low.

"It was a very good race and I'm very pleased for him because he had a tough time in July and he's back, back on the pace.

"He had a good weekend, a good mood, good approach and I think it will help [for the rest of the season].”

Vasseur added: "The target was to finish on the podium. Charles did a strong race, a very good fight at the beginning but we overheated the tyres. We were not that far away from McLaren. Max was flying.”