Rosberg claims Hamilton's Italian GP was 'a testament to how bad it was before'

Nico Rosberg expressed satisfaction with Lewis Hamilton’s weekend at Monza, while also highlighting how such result underscores his disappointments in previous races.

Hamilton’s first Monza weekend as a Ferrari driver was overall positive, especially considering the string of poor results he had endured before the summer break.

The seven-time world champion started well on Friday, topping the timesheets in FP1 and showing strong pace in FP2.

In qualifying, however, he could do no better than fifth, which later became tenth after serving the five-place grid penalty he received at Zandvoort before the race.

Also on qualifying day, many criticized Hamilton for not giving a tow to his teammate in an attempt to help him secure pole at Ferrari’s most important race of the season.

Jean Alesi, for example, was among them, with the former Maranello driver expressing his unhappiness with the Briton’s attitude, stating that he should have provided the slipstream to Leclerc.

Hamilton then staged a decent comeback in the race, quickly moving up from tenth to sixth and putting pressure on his former teammate George Russell, though he never had the pace to pass him.

Nico Rosberg

Rosberg scrutinizes Hamilton's first Monza weekend

Appearing on the Sky F1 Show podcast, another of his former Mercedes teammates, Nico Rosberg, analyzed Hamilton’s weekend at Monza: ''It was nice to see Lewis having a really solid weekend, feeling comfortable in the car, being quick at times, showing flashes of his brilliance.''

''I think that was an important weekend for him, but at the same time it's testament to how bad it was before. Just by him being close to Charles we're all saying 'this is a great weekend', because so many mistakes before and troubles with pace also.''

''But anyways, good to see him have a good one and let's hope he can carry it forward. That would be important for him.''

The former German driver then shifted the focus more generally to Ferrari, which failed to get either of its drivers on the podium at Monza and now finds itself in a position where it cannot afford mistakes looking ahead to 2026.

''Ferrari will be under pressure because they are always measured a lot by their home race and it was a poor home race with no pace, no chance to win and no chance for a podium. So they'll be under a lot of pressure.''

''It's 18 years since they won a champion driver's championship. The last worst period was 1979 until 2000, which was Jody Scheckter to Michael Schumacher, 21 years. And they're almost nearing that again. So it's been a massively rough patch again for them.'' 

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