Lewis Hamilton "SLAPS BUTT " Ferrari SF-25 after SENDING MOST EMOTIONAL MESSAGE ON RADIO Imola GP

Bravo Lewis! And Hamilton's happy as well, in 4th place. Happy 4th, and hard work out there. All the best. Proud of you. Thanks so much mate. What a great race guys. Fantastic start, strategy. The car felt great today. So grateful, so proud. Thank you all. And for the support, also them. That's more like it guys. That's more like it. We get our qualifying better and we can race like that. And we will be winning. Lewis Hamilton launches stellar comeback as McLaren beaten at Imola Grand Prix. McLaren's dominance was toppled by Max Verstappen at the Imola Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton launched a stellar comeback having before suffered a disappointing weekend in Italy. Both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc failed to make it into Q3 during qualifying but the 7-time world champion battled his way back into the top 10 and beat his teammate to claim P4, his best Grand Prix result of the year. During the final 10 laps of the race, Hamilton launched a huge comeback to overtake Alex Albon and Leclerc as he dedicated his result to the Tifosi who had gathered in Imola. Verstappen snatched the lead from Oscar Piastri with a late brake overtake at Tamburello on lap 1 and looked set to clinch the race victory from there. Piastri and McLaren attempted the undercut on Verstappen during the first round of pit stops but a slow stop cost the Australian in his fight with the 4-time world champion. McLaren's woes continued when Esteban Ocon parked his Haas on the grass which prompted a virtual safety car and the slowed down field, playing out perfectly for Verstappen. The Dutchman had not stopped yet and in doing so under VSC conditions maintained his lead ahead of Piastri and Lando Norris, building a staggering 18-second gap by lap 45. However, the Imola GP delivered another twist when Kimi Antonelli brought out a full safety car on lap 46 after he stopped on the grass and reported an engine issue at turn 7. Verstappen's huge lead was wiped out as the field bunched up behind the safety car and they readied themselves for a 10-lap sprint shootout at the end of the race. However, the champion remained composed and maintained his lead on the restart pulling out a huge advantage as the McLaren squabbled behind him, helping Verstappen romp to the victory. Even Fernando Alonso felt the drama in Imola and left the pits with his front left tyre ablaze after his brakes caught fire but the Spaniard managed to continue in the race. 2025 rule change removes fastest lap point. Fastest lap points have been banished for 2025. Since 2019, drivers have picked up an extra point if they finish in the top 10 and achieve the fastest lap. However, it did lead to some drivers abandoning their races to pit and fit a set of new tyres at the end in order to claim the fastest lap point or to stop a rival from getting the extra point. The most famous example of this in 2024 came during Daniel Rizzardo's final F1 race when the Australian finished last but claimed the fastest lap on the final lap of the Singapore GP taking the extra point away from Lando Norris and helping Max Verstappen's title bid. Yesterday's delusion, does this race give you a little smile? Did you have your best weekend in terms of feeling with this car? Hopefully you have some nice things to say. We speak... I'm not saying you didn't say... I wasn't making assumptions. I was saying hopefully you got some good things to finally say. Yes, we have it. But it's important for us that you are happy. That you feel this car better. So, so happy. Firstly, the experience with the Tifosi. Wow. Wow, wow. It's been incredible. So, thank you everyone that came out. It was really very special for me to see the sea of red. I didn't know what to expect this weekend, how many people would turn up but it looked like one of the biggest crowds we've had here. I think so. And to see so many people, there's a huge flag on the Ferrari flag. Exit of Turn 7. And it was like, it just felt really, it felt vintage. It felt like back in the day when you would watch, like when I was watching Michael race here and you see that bond. It was really really great to see and experience. So I cherish that experience. And then I definitely didn't expect for us to finish fourth today. I didn't know where we would be able to come given we're so far back. But the car really felt great. The team did a fantastic job with the strategy. You know, they were faultless. And I think I'm getting, we're slowly getting there and I think me and Riccardo did a fantastic job with his communication with me. I was calm so then I think he was calm and the team were calm in executing the strategy and the pit stops were awesome. So, overall, mega. I was hoping for some extra laps. Obviously, it's a safe car. I lost them. Otherwise, we could have maybe fought for a podium. I'm so happy for the results of the team. I'm so grateful for the results of the team. As I said, I only slept four hours last night. So I couldn't sleep. Just my mind was working just over time, trying to think of, you know, how we're going to progress today. When I arrived here, it was a beautiful day, full of fans. They gave me so much love. It was just a new experience for me here. And then the team did an amazing job today. The pit stops, the strategy, everything was just perfect. And they really deserve a good pat on their back. So I'm really, really proud of them. Hey, Lewis. A heck of a fight back today. Is that the kind of stuff that you would have dreamed of, to be in red, to be fighting through the field, to hear the roar in your name every time you got a pass in? It must be something special. I mean, I couldn't hear him, but to try. Does it feel like, when you get that feeling, that there is a bit of light now, there's a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, that you're cracking it when you're making changes, they're actually working? I mean, I don't want to jinx it. So, for sure, there's lots of positives to take away from today. And we had pace. So we really need to dissect and understand where and why. And then, I did think we would make an improvement this weekend with something to try and fix. And I think there's more to come. But the setup was really good. The car felt freaking mega, setup-wise. And, as I said, the strategists, the team did a fantastic job with strategy calls and hit stops. So, overall, mega job for Ferrari. Great. Thank you.