Hamilton is confident Ferrari "can make good progress overnight"
Having topped the opening practice session at the Italian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton is confident Ferrari "can make good progress overnight" after the Scuderia made tweak to the SF25 between FP1 and FP2 that did not bring the improvements that Italian squad had hoped for.
Hot on the heels of their shock result at last Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix, Ferrari completed an encouraging day in front of their home crowd at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Lewis Hamilton, who will serve a five-place grid penalty on Sunday for an installation lap indiscretion last weekend in Zandvoort, wound up topping the opening session from his team mate, the first time he has finished P1 in practice since Silverstone. His team-mate Charles Leclerc took second in FP1.
The Scuderia then went on to finish second and fifth in the second practice session as they continued to look good on the soft tyres on the lower fuel runs.
Assessing his opening day of his first Monza weekend as a Ferrari driver, Lewis Hamilton admitted that the Italian team made changes to his SF25 which might have been the wrong decision.
"It’s very special to be out on track in front of the tifosi, the passion and energy here in Monza is truly unique. The car felt pretty good earlier this afternoon and it was encouraging to finish FP1 on top.
"We made some changes between sessions that we’ll review carefully, as we’re not sure they took us in the right direction, but we have time to adjust ahead of tomorrow.
"Our pace over a lap looked strong and we’ve collected valuable information across the tyre compounds so the priority will be to see how we can keep improving race pace. I'm confident the team can make good progress overnight and we’ll be working towards a good qualifying tomorrow."
The seven-time world champion does have a five-place grid drop for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, the knowledge of which puts a dampener on proceedings for the driver who has the record for most victories at Monza.
"FP1 was really, really strong and FP2 was definitely much more of a struggle but it's better to have that in FP2 and learn from that rather than FP3," Hamilton continued.
"Lots of positives to take from today and we'll do some work overnight and I hope that tomorrow we can be better. I think the McLarens are obviously still very fast and I think it's very close with everyone in the top five, top 10, so [it] will be a challenge. It's not easy to overtake and I've obviously got that penalty which is unfortunate."
