Fred Vasseur in awe of Lewis Hamilton after stunning fightback at Monza, also makes McLaren pace comparison

Lewis Hamilton finished sixth after starting 10th on the grid at the Italian GP. With him being one of the biggest movers of the day, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur applauded the Brit for having a strong race, despite having to contend with a setback earlier in the weekend, all while sharing a positive verdict on the team's pace in comparison to McLaren.

The seven-time champion was handed a five-place grid drop for not slowing down for the yellow flags during his reconnaissance laps before the Dutch GP. This meant that Hamilton arrived in Monza already on the back foot.

However, the 40-year-old seemingly put the setback aside and aimed to extract the pace from his Ferrari SF-25. This was seen with his impressive result in FP1, as he had topped the session. While the stellar pace was gone by qualifying, he had still finished the session in fifth, making him line up 10th on the grid on Sunday.

Hamilton then put in a recovery drive and went from 10th to finish sixth at the chequered flag. Subsequently, reviewing the team's race weekend, Vasseur said in a post-race interview:

"The positive side of the weekend is that the pace, at least with McLaren, was there. That Lewis did a very strong weekend with the penalty to come back P6."

Lewis Hamilton's sixth-place finish marked his return to the top six of the results chart for the first time since the British GP before the summer break.

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Lewis Hamilton admitted that he was on top of the Ferrari SF-25 during the Italian GP

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton after the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Italy - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton looked comfortable in the Ferrari SF-25 during the Italian GP. Being a former race winner at the track himself, the seven-time champion was hoping to secure a solid result in front of the Tifosi as a Scuderia driver for the first time in his career.

While the five-place grid drop had already left a sour taste in his camp before the weekend even started, he gave his best to finish sixth on the road. Finishing less than five seconds behind Mercedes' George Russell, the Ferrari driver said in a post-race interview:

"I definitely felt on top of the car today. I was really happy with it. The overtaking was great. I got very close to George. In hindsight we should’ve tried to undercut him. After the penalty tough to get back to P6 was great."

However, he admitted that McLaren and Red Bull were still ahead of Ferrari, as Lewis Hamilton further added:

"I don’t think we yet have the car to fight for the podium. We don’t have the pace of Red Bull or McLaren. Currently we’re still 4th, 5th. Maybe if we do an exceptional job, we can get a podium here or there, but we don’t have the pace."

Hamilton's P6 finish helped him increase his points tally from 109 to 117 points after the conclusion of the Italian GP.