Lewis Hamilton issued an apology to his Ferrari engineers after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. The 40-year-old was hoping to battle for the top spot after a strong set of free practice sessions, but dropped back to fifth at the end of Q3, finishing one spot behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Worse still, the seven-time world champion must now serve a brutal five-place grid penalty, dropping him to 10th on the grid for his first taste of the Italian GP with Ferrari. Hamilton faces an uphill battle to score his first podium in the Scuderia’s red overalls at the 16th time of asking.
After discovering the result, Hamilton dialled into the radio, telling race engineer Riccardo Adami: “Great job today, guys. I’m really grateful for the push. Sorry I couldn’t go quicker.” He replied: “No worries. We’re getting there. We’ll push tomorrow.”
Despite the setback, Hamilton took the positives from being on pace with Leclerc in qualifying for the second race weekend in a row. “I am really, really happy with the progress we’ve made,” he told Sky Sports F1.
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