Lewis Hamilton rues missed opportunity on Ferrari home soil

Lewis Hamilton believes he could have achieved a higher result at the Italian Grand Prix if Ferrari executed an earlier pit stop.

Hamilton lined up at Monza in 10th place after serving a grid penalty he picked up in Zandvoort last Sunday.

The seven-time champion moved himself into the top six early on with a handful of overtakes and soon found himself following former Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

Having endured a rough run of form of late, Hamilton was pleased to accomplish a strong opening stint, which placed him in a strong position for the remainder of the race.

“I had a really good start, I had to lift just after the start, just because it was such a good start,” Hamilton told media including RacingNews365.

“I got kind of squeezed in between two cars. But other than that, I positioned the car really nicely.”

Hamilton made his sole pit stop of the race on lap 38, 10 laps after Russell completed his service.

The 40-year-old highlighted Ferrari could have brought him in for an earlier pit stop in a bid to get ahead of the Mercedes driver, feeling a top five result was on the cards.

“I made my way forward [through the field], I think I could have got fifth today,” he said.

“I was 1.5 seconds behind George, we should have tried to undercut. We missed that opportunity.”