Lewis Hamilton issues Ferrari instruction in hunt of dream home victory

Lewis Hamilton has highlighted the importance of Ferrari needing to work as a team as it seeks a home victory on Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix.

Throughout practice, Ferrari appeared to be a threat at the front of the field at Monza.

However, it endured a more challenging outing during qualifying, with Hamilton narrowly avoiding a painful Q2 exit by just 0.001s.

At the end of Q3, the seven-time champion found himself in fifth place, behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton was left to rue a messy end to the session as he outlined that a less-than-ideal position in the queue hindered his rhythm.

“Because everyone was waiting, Charles didn't want to go out first,” Hamilton told media including RacingNews365.

“We had to wait, wait, wait and then only got one push. It made it pretty challenging for us.

“Q3, I didn't have any wheels on the car, and everyone left whilst my engine was running. I went out like 25 seconds behind them all.

“That just put me out of rhythm because when you're following another car, and when you're in that tow, you arrive much faster, so the braking zones are different.

“When you're on your own, when you lose the tow, a lot of time is lost in the tow.”

Hamilton will advance up to fourth place on the starting grid as Oscar Piastri has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson during qualifying.

With no challenger now positioned between the Ferrari duo and Mercedes' Russell, Hamilton asserted Ferrari must play a team game on Sunday to make sure it finishes ahead of the Silver Arrow.

“It's definitely positive to progress [up the grid],” Hamilton added. 

“Of course, there's some fighting chance, hopefully, with George. That's one Mercedes up front. 

“So hopefully that gives us a chance to work as a team to try and topple them.”