'Insane' Imola comeback took Hamilton down an 'elbows-out' memory lane

21:25, 18 May

Updated: 22:36, 18 May

byNorberto Mujica

Lewis Hamilton came home to take P4 at the flag in his first Ferrari home race, after starting in P12. An 'insane' comeback reminiscent of his early days in motorsport, the Briton believes.

His Imola performance, did it resemble China's? For Hamilton his Emilia Romagna Grand Prix drives holds a higher stead as he told media including GPblog after the race.

"I've always loved when you're fighting from further back and coming through. That's how I started off as a kid. That's always such a better feeling than starting first and finishing first"

Whereas the Briton was devastated just one day ago after a lowly qualifying result, now the outlook is certainly different, Hamilton states.

"Definitely an absolutely amazing race, and so many positives to take from it. One is the strategy was really fantastic. They made great calls. Didn't put a foot wrong there."

"[In] China, I felt really aligned with the car. And then the only other time [that's happened] is today. I felt that real synergy, and I think the setup was great."

Race pace, is Ferrari's strong suit, 1-lap pace, though, needs work

Had Hamilton been able to start further up the grid, then the outcome might have been very different.

"I think we made a bit of an improvement in our performance for the race. We've just got to unlock the potential in qualifying. If we had qualified better we would have been in the fight for a podium. It's something we didn't think would be possible."

The Briton even saw that taking over from McLaren's Oscar Piastri's P3 was a possibility for him in the dying stages of the Grand Prix.

"I think I needed probably another five laps or something like that to really get close enough to really challenge [Piastri]. McLaren are still damned fast on all tyres."

"The whole thing was insane," is Hamilton's summary of the Imola Grand Prix.