Lewis Hamilton concedes defeat to Max Verstappen and McLaren’s pace as podium drought with Ferrari continues

Lewis Hamilton mentioned that he did not "deserve" to be on the podium in Monza during the 2025 F1 Italian GP, as he claimed that Ferrari did not have the pace to battle Red Bull at their home turf. The latter's driver, Max Verstappen, clinched an easy P1 as he converted his pole position to a race win.

Ferrari is always the favorite for the Italian Grand Prix. After Charles Leclerc's victory at Monza last year, fans were hyped to see the Italian machinery down on the track in the special livery, dedicated to their former driver, Niki Lauda. Despite topping the charts on Friday, the team did not exhibit a strong pace during the qualifying and race sessions. Hamilton started the race down in P10 after a five-place grid penalty, and made up a few places; however, he did not have the pace to be within the top three.

"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 (all the fans)," Lewis Hamilton told Sky Sports.

At the same time, he seemingly does not expect Ferrari to be winning any races this season, as he claimed that they do not have the pace against the Red Bull and the McLaren, so they might only clinch a few podiums in the remaining races.

"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 exceptinal 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."

Lewis Hamilton, however, has missed out on that as well. He hasn't scored a single podium with Ferrari, with his best race finish this year still at P4. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, has been scoring the team's only top-three finishes, keeping them strong in second place in the World Championship.

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Lewis Hamilton "back on the pace," claims Ferrari boss

Hamilton has had a disappointing season so far with the Italian outfit. Apart from his Sprint victory in China, he has remained out of contention for any race wins, with reasons surrounding adaptability to the car and a major change in work environment.

Even though Ferrari missed a top-three finish in their home race, team principal Frederic Vasseur had quite a few positives to be extracted from the session. Speaking of Lewis Hamilton, he told Sky that the Briton exhibited strong pace and is "back" on it.

"He [Lewis Hamilton] came back. With the penalty he was in the middle of the pack but had a strong first stint. We tried to have a tyre advantage at the end [against Russell] but the degradation was too low."

He added:

"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."

Ferrari is in a strong battle with Mercedes for second place in the World Championship. Although the team has a few points' advantage currently, the Brackley-based outfit is closing the gap.