An encouraging Emilia Romagna Grand Prix has enthused Lewis Hamilton to try some new ideas ahead of Monaco next weekend.

Hamilton and his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc were resurgent in Imola after a disappointing Saturday to move both scarlet machines into the points.

Lewis Hamilton has ‘ideas’ to improve single lap performance

Leclerc was the best-placed Ferrari driver on the grid in 11th, one spot up on Hamilton.

The pair struggled for single lap pace in Imola on Saturday with the seven-time World Champion admitting the performance left him “devastated.”

Though satisfied with the car set-up, Hamilton admitted he simply couldn’t extract more over a single lap.

After then charging his way from 12th on the grid to fourth at the chequered flag in Sunday’s race, around a venue notoriously difficult to pass on, Hamilton was left enthused to try something new – despite expecting some resistance within the team.

“I’ve got some ideas that I’m going to try and apply this week that people have been a little bit reluctant to do it, I think because we’ve had lots of other things to focus on,” Hamilton told the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“But hopefully we can find something, some more performance.”

The new Ferrari recruit, who experienced his first race in front of the tifosi in Imola, suggested a stronger qualifying performance could have translated into a podium on Sunday.

Hamilton slowly rose through the pack during a long opening stint that saw him finally take service for the first time on Lap 29, under the Virtual Safety Car for Esteban Ocon’s stricken Haas.

He pitted again on Lap 46, with the field neutralised for Kimi Antonelli’s stopped Mercedes, having risen to fifth before his stop.

He then ran seventh on the road as racing resumed, picking off former teammate George Russell and pinching fifth from Alex Albon and then fourth from Leclerc in the run to the flag.

The 40-year-old crossed the line just 1.4 seconds adrift of Oscar Piastri in third.

“There’s a ton of positives,” Hamilton enthused with the media, including PlanetF1.com, after the race.

“The strategy was really fantastic. They made great calls, didn’t put a foot wrong there.

“China, I felt really aligned with the car and then the only other time was today. I felt that synergy.

“The set-up was great [in Imola]. I think we made a bit of an improvement in our performance for the race.

“Just got to unlock that potential in qualifying; if we’d qualified better, we’d have been fighting for a podium.”

Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc: Ferrari head-to-head scores for F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Ferrari has been the fourth-best team on the grid for the most part in F1 2025 with Hamilton’s Chinese GP Sprint win the starring performance.

Imola marked the Briton’s strongest Sunday result in a the season that has seen the Scuderia record just a single podium appearance; in Saudi Arabia courtesy of Leclerc.

Though the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix left Hamilton enthused he also preached caution ahead of Monaco this weekend.

“Our car is generally good in high-speed, okay in medium, and maybe a little bit not as strong as the others in low,” he said.

“Obviously the next race is all low, so we’ve got to see how we can try and pull some more [performance] out.

“Every race I go to is the first time with this car, so I really have no idea what a Ferrari feels like [in Monaco],” he added.

“The races that we’re coming up to, particularly Monaco, a track I’ve generally been strong at in the past.

“I hope we can take some of the learnings from this weekend.

“It will still be a question about getting the tyres working on a single lap.”

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