Hamilton stumped by Mercedes performance in Ferrari pursuit

Lewis Hamilton has admitted he does not know why Mercedes were less than competitive than Ferrari and McLaren at the Italian Grand Prix.

The 39-year-old lined up sixth at Monza and finished one place better on account of George Russell suffering damage on the first lap.

This forced his team-mate to pit early, who ultimately finishing between the Red Bulls in seventh, despite starting third.

It was otherwise an uneventful race for the seven-time drivers' champion, who was unable to compete with the Ferraris ahead, but was not threatened by Max Verstappen behind.

The British driver underlined the difference the Scuderia's extensive Monza upgrades made on how the grand prix unfolded and shared his confusion at Mercedes' lack of pace.

However, he remains hopeful that when upgrades do come, they can have a similar impact to the updates delivered by the Italian team at its home race.

"Ultimately, I think we didn't have the race pace today. I'm not quite sure why. I think even if I started further ahead [it] would have been hard," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

"Even if I was ahead of [the] Ferraris, they would have come out ahead. They just had more pace than us, but they had an upgrade this weekend, and we didn't - it's just how it goes.

"There will be a race, hopefully, that we will have an upgrade and the others won't and we'll be stronger, maybe, but it's very, very fine, small margins between all [of] us and unfortunately, today, we just didn't have the pace... so it was inevitable they would be quick compared to us.

"I wish we were closer and more in the fight, but onwards and upwards."

The 105-time grand prix winner highlighted that he was originally pegged for a one-stop race, but had to move to a two-stopper due to suffering more tyre degradation than those in front.

"For us, we were planning to do a one stop. My tyres were just dropping off, just trying to hold onto Carlos [Sainz]," Hamilton explained.

"We had more deg [degradation] than the cars ahead. I could have probably done a one stop, but I would have come out exact same place I was in."