Ferrari recover from Qualifying woes
F1’s return to the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari heralded a special weekend for Lewis Hamilton, with it marking the first time that he would race in front of the Tifosi as a Ferrari driver.
Unfortunately it looked as if the team might struggle to give the fans something to cheer about on Saturday when they endured a disastrous Qualifying, in which both Charles Leclerc and Hamilton were eliminated in Q2 after ending the session in P11 and P12 respectively.
READ MORE: Hamilton hails ‘really great feeling’ of fightback to P4 at Imola as Leclerc reflects on ‘frustrating day’
Each driver sounded wary of their recovery chances ahead of Sunday’s race – but it looked like the mood was determined in the Ferrari camp right from the start as both cars gained places and got their elbows out against the competition.
While the timing of the Virtual Safety Car and full Safety Car phases did not favour Leclerc – who was amongst those to pit early in the race – they proved well-timed for Hamilton, the seven-time World Champion losing little time when pitting.
That fresher rubber helped him to work his way up to a final position of P4, with Leclerc not far behind in P6. And while the latter was frustrated by how his race panned out at times, Hamilton spoke positively about the “really great feeling” of his fightback drive on what was surely a much better than anticipated day for the Italian outfit.
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