A jubilant Lewis Hamilton celebrates Ferrari’s turnaround at the F1 2025 Emilia Romagna GP as he recovered from 12th on the grid, but rues a missed chance to compete for a podium at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
A double Q2 elimination on Saturday, May 17 left the seven-time world champion and his new team staring down the barrel of a miserable weekend on their return to Italian soil.
However, impressive race pace and a slice of luck catapulted the Scuderia and the Brit into contention when a stop under a virtual safety car allowed the 40-year-old to compete for the upper end of the points.
He then wasted no time passing Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli at the restart with a lovely move into the Tamburello chicane, before hunting down and slipping by Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.
The 105-time Grand Prix winner then got lucky once again when the full safety car came out and he pitted for hard tyres after his mediums began to fall off, giving him a platform to chase down some big points.
Blasting past George Russell, he then used his many years of wisdom to sneak by Alex Albon when he was run off the road by Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari car; before he then overtook the sister car himself.
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It allowed him to secure fourth and a huge 12 points for his season, but a jubilant Hamilton rues the missed chance to fight for a podium at the 2025 Emilia Romagna GP, as Piastri’s McLaren just evaded his clutches to the line after 63 laps.
“I definitely didn’t expect for us to finish fourth today,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. “I didn’t know where we would be able to come given we were so far back.
“But the car really felt great. The team did a fantastic job with the strategy, and they were all faultless.”
Hamilton added: “So overall, mega. I was hoping for some extra laps. Obviously, the safety car lost them, or we could have maybe fought for a podium.”
Hamilton finally figures out his Ferrari at F1 2025 Emilia Romagna GP
The Miami Grand Prix on May 4 was perhaps the lowest moment of the season for the Brit and his team as he slumped to a lowly eighth-place and endured his first Q2 exit of the year in the United States.
Ferrari found themselves fifth-quickest and racing Williams, despite an impressive performance in the Sprint Race the day prior – suggesting they still don’t understand their SF-25 car.
However, in Imola they trended in the right direction by getting quicker in the race than qualifying and produced a smooth operation free of controversy from Fred Vasseur’s pit wall.
In light of that, Hamilton, characteristically, made sure to praise the team and sent an upbeat message that he finally feels as though he’s getting on top of the car in what was his best Sunday performance of the year.
“I think we’re slowly getting there,” Hamilton added to Sky Sports F1. “And I think me and Riccardo [Adami] did a fantastic job with his communication with me.
“I was calm, so then I think he was calm, and the team were calm and executing the strategy, and the pit stops were awesome.”
