Transcript: Hamilton seeking final tenths as he closes gap to Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton would have started the Italian Grand Prix immediately behind his team mate Charles Leclerc.

But his penalty from the Dutch Grand Prix one week earlier left him five places further back.

He made amends soon after the start, working his way up to sixth place. Further progress proved difficult, however. Ferrari delayed his final pit stop in the hope of giving him a tyre advantage over George Russell ahead, but Hamilton found his rival was just too far ahead to catch by the end of the race.

All year long Hamilton has pressed race engineer Ricardo Adami for details on where he can improve his lap times as he adjusts to Ferrari’s car at every track on the calendar. That continued at Monza, despite Hamilton’s lap times comparing favourably with his team mate’s, particularly given the strain he put his tyres through at the start as he made his way past the likes of Fernando Alonso.

While at times this year it was clear Hamilton and Adami didn’t yet enjoy the easy back-and-forth typical of long-running partnerships, as the season enters its final third the pair are clearly communicating more effectively than before. But as the transcript of the Ferrari drivers’ messages from the team’s second home race shows, Hamilton is still diligently pressing Adami for the final few tenths of a second which separate him from his team mate at times.

Radio messages: Hamilton and Leclerc at Monza

Both drivers started the race on medium compound tyres and found themselves immediately scrapping for positions. Leclerc swapped places with Oscar Piastri, while Hamilton immediately got by Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda on the first lap. By lap seven he had also picked off Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto.

Once in free air Hamilton quickly got onto Leclerc’s pace and even beat it at times.

While Leclerc stabilised his lap times, Hamilton grappled with oversteer as his rears began to get too hot.

Lesmo 2 – turn seven – was a persistent problem for Hamilton throughout much of the race. It was the one corner where Adami kept pointing out he had room to improve.

As the opening stint wore on, Hamilton began to lose more time to Leclerc. Adami noted other areas he could claw it back and offered more words of encouragement.

Russell, who separated the Ferrari drivers in fifth place, pitted before them. However Leclerc had enough of a lead over him that Ferrari did not need to worry about responding immediately to his pit stop.

Ferrari brought Leclerc in six laps after Russell. The driver questioned whether it was necessary; he came out around five seconds ahead of the Mercedes, and Russell had to pass Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll.

Ferrari left Hamilton out 11 laps longer than Russell, leaving him with just a 15-lap stint until the end of the race. This wasn’t short enough for them to consider soft tyres like the McLarens did, however; he left the pits on hards.

Hamilton had been just one-and-a-half seconds behind Russell before the Mercedes driver pitted. He was dismayed to discover his rival was now seven seconds up the road.

It took Hamilton five laps to hit the target Ferrari set him. He never looked likely to catch Russell before the end of the race and finished sixth.

The result was disappointing for both drivers: Leclerc failed to reach the podium in a race he won last year, Hamilton wasn’t able to continue his progress early in the race. But compared to his Zandvoort disaster, this was a considerably more encouraging afternoon for Hamilton.

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