Lewis Hamilton secured a fifth-place finish at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix in Monza, and although the British driver acknowledged that Mercedes lacked the pace to challenge McLaren and Ferrari, he did find one positive.
Hamilton once again proved to be the more consistent of the two Mercedes drivers, gaining one position during the race at Monza after overtaking teammate George Russell, who lost ground after going wide in the first chicane at the start.
From there, Hamilton had a steady Italian GP, finishing fifth without any significant on-track battles. But in reflection, Hamilton emphasised the one positive for Mercedes.
“The only positive to take away is that we have good reliability, but everyone around us did too,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“We didn’t have race pace today, I’m not sure why. Even if we had started further forward, it would have been hard.
“Even if we were ahead of the Ferraris, they would have come out ahead, they had more pace than us.”
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Strategy and Upgrades
Hamilton noted that Ferrari had an upgrade this weekend, which contributed to their superior pace.
“They [Ferrari] had an upgrade this weekend, and we didn’t, so that’s how things go,” Hamilton continued.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace and had a bit more degradation than the cars in front. I could have done a one-stop strategy, and would’ve finished in the same position.”
Hamilton admitted that Mercedes did plan to go for a one-stop strategy was compromised by tyre degradation while trying to keep up with Carlos Sainz.
“We were planning to do a one-stop strategy, but my tyres dropped off trying to hold onto Carlos,” Hamilton admitted.
“We didn’t expect that, but they had an upgrade this weekend, and it was inevitable that they would be faster than us.”
