Lewis Hamilton admits he “doesn’t suppose” Ferrari have the tempo to compete for a podium within the remaining eight races of the season.
Hamilton, having began tenth as a result of a five-place grid penalty, completed Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix in sixth and acknowledged it was a “stable drive” at his first Monza race as a Scuderia driver.
Nevertheless, it means the 40-year-old remains to be with no top-three end after 16 rounds this season. His finest lead to a grand prix has been fourth, with a dash race victory in China again in March.
There are eight rounds left this 12 months however Hamilton, significantly after Purple Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed a dominant victory, was pessimistic when requested about his probabilities over the remaining three months.
When requested about being aggressive over the season’s the rest, Hamilton informed Sky Sports activities F1: “I do not suppose so, Charles [Leclerc, finished fourth] was giving it the whole lot, Max is up there now.
“We do not have the tempo of Purple Bull, immediately they had been speedy, or McLaren, abd at present we’re fourth.
“A podium right here or there? There’s an opportunity to have that sooner or later. However by way of pure tempo, we do not have that.”
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur insisted Hamilton had a “superb race” after making up locations firstly and ending simply behind previous Mercedes teammate George Russell.
“Ranging from the center of the pack due to the penalty, Lewis had a really sturdy first stint and in the direction of the tip we tried to provide him a tyre benefit to get forward of Russell, however the degradation was too low,” Vasseur mentioned.
“He had an excellent race and I’m more than happy for him. We’re sorry we couldn’t ship a greater end result for our tifosi, who’ve been superb all week lengthy.”
Hamilton’s subsequent likelihood to complete on the rostrum comes on the subsequent spherical in Baku, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, on 19-21 September.
