Lewis Hamilton has revealed he and Ferrari have made “progress” by “letting stuff go” after he qualified fifth at the Italian Grand Prix.

Prior to the summer break, Hamilton stated he was “useless” following a third successive failure to reach the last part of qualifying.

Since then, the seven-time world champion qualified seventh in Zandvoort and fifth in Monza – but more importantly was just one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc at both events.

“If I could take you through all the things and nuances that led up to the races before [the summer break] and why they were how they were,” said Hamilton, who was 0.332s behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen.

“These two races, I’ve let all that stuff go, and just focused on delivering my job, coming in positive and absorbing the positivity from our fans, and the team have been incredible.

“We are not where we want to be, we don’t have the pace we want, naturally, but it is what it is. It’s good to be close and that’s definitely progress and I know I can progress from there. I will keep working with my engineers to extract more from the people around me.”

Hamilton will start Sunday’s race from 10th due to a five-place grid penalty for not slowing down sufficiently through yellow flags on his way to the grid at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.

Despite the long Monza straights, overtaking is difficult due to DRS not being as powerful because the teams run skinny rear wings.

Hamilton says he is hoping to “wiggle my way through” through the field and hopes not to get stuck in a DRS train.

“With everyone being so close, it will be tough to overtake everybody. But we have good top-line speed, so I’m hoping I can try and make up some ground,” he said.

“I need a good start, good first lap and good strategy. We will see how we can leapfrog the guys ahead.”

Leclerc would be ‘extremely surprised’ to repeat Monza win

Ferrari’s hopes of a 22nd victory at the Italian Grand Prix will likely rely on Leclerc in fourth place.

The Monegasque driver famously won in Monza in 2019 and 2024. Last year, Leclerc gambled with a one-stop strategy which worked against the two-stop race ran by Oscar Piastri, who initially had track position.

However, that mistake from McLaren will likely force everyone to go for a one-stop on Sunday which will mean Leclerc has to overtake pole-sitter Verstappen, Lando Norris and Piastri on the track.

“Last year was close to impossible. We did a different strategy which helped us to get the win,” said Leclerc.

“I think this year is even more difficult than last year in reality and also the strategy I believe is clearer for everybody. So it’s going to be more tough to do something different. If we win I will be extremely surprised but never say never.”

Sky Sports F1’s Italian GP Schedule

Sunday September 7
7.10am: F3 Feature Race
8.40am: F2 Feature Race
10.40am: Porsche Supercup Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Italian GP build-up
2pm: THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Chequered Flag: Italian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1’s European season concludes with the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday with lights out at 2pm and build-up from 12.30pm on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime