© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Lewis Hamilton attended the 2024 Italian Grand Prix Thursday Drivers’ Press Conference. Here is the full transcript!
Q: And Lewis, coming to you, just given what’s happening next year, does it feel different for you being in Monza this year?
Lewis HAMILTON: Hi, everyone. I’m not going to lie it definitely does feel a little bit different. I mean it always feels special when you come here. We’re coming here at a decent time in terms of the weather’s incredible today obviously the huge changes that made to the track. But as Charles was saying there’s always such incredible passion with throughout Italy just in the culture in general but particularly about racing and It’s always exciting just to see the fans that we’re going to see throughout the weekend. The passion here and the excitement that they really bring to this race is really not particularly matched in too many places.
Q: Well, let’s talk about you and performance now. The team has had six consecutive podiums prior to last weekend. How much of a shock was the performance of the car at Zandvoort?
LH: It wasn’t that it was a shock. We just struggled to get the balance in the perfect window. And I think you could see with these cars today, I mean, particularly with our car, but I think many teams experience it. It’s kind of on a knife edge and can easily go one way or the other. In hindsight, we look back on some things and we would have done things slightly differently. Actual pace wise? I would think I was the third fastest on average through the race. Our race pace wasn’t terrible and the results didn’t show the true performance in the race but qualifying needed to be a bit better.
Q: Given your pace at Spa what are your hopes for here?
LH: I’m definitely more hopeful coming into this weekend that the car will be nicer to drive again. But you’ve got others that are bringing upgrades this weekend. So you have to expect Ferrari going to be quick with their upgrade. You have to expect that McLaren, with the advantage in the last lap that he was able to pull out in the last race, they’re going to be rapid this weekend. So I’m just hopeful that we’re there or thereabouts.
Q: Final one from me about Kimi Antonelli, who’s doing FP1 for the team on Friday. He’s only just turned 18. Just what kind of a talent is he?
LH: Well, I mean, I said a long time ago that I think that’s who the team should choose moving forwards. And time will tell what they end up deciding to do. No, he’s one of those young, super-talented kids that’s come through. I mean, he’s a young adult now. But, yeah, he’s only 18. So I think… I think it’d be good for people just to remember he is just turning 18, and he’s got a bright future ahead of him. And yeah, I’m really excited to see and watch his progress. I saw a picture earlier on of us, back in, I think, 2018, and he was one of the grid kids! And I’m like shaking his hand at the front of the grid! So it obviously reminds you how old you are when you have those experiences. But yeah, looking forward to seeing his growth and his journey through into Formula 1.
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Q: (David Croft – Sky Sports F1) Lewis, if I could go back to you on the subject of Kimi Antonelli. What has he got that made you think a long time ago, ‘yeah, he’s the guy that Mercedes should be taking for the future’? What is it about his racing? What is it about him that made him or makes him a suitable candidate in your eyes?
LH: I think it’s… We’ve been watching him through the through the different formulas and naturally he’s a Mercedes driver. I just think we are starting to see a lot younger drivers coming through and I think we’re just in that time, where there’s only 20 seats and I think it’s time. We’re starting to see this new wave come through. In terms of taking on a another driver that’s had many, many years of experience as opposed to giving an opportunity to a youngster. That’s what McLaren did for me and it worked out well. In my opinion, it’s just an opportunity for him to grow. He’s going to get to work… He would get to work with the best in class, learn from people that I’ve worked with for so many, many years. But it is a lot of weight on someone’s shoulders. But as I said, it’s a great environment that I think they would just be able to nurture him and carry him through it. But there are other really good options. So you’d have to ask Toto which one he’s leaning towards.
Q (Nicolò Severini – Sky Sports Italy) : A question to Lewis. What kind of welcome do you expect this year? It may be different from the past.
LH: I mean, I don’t know what to expect. If I’m honest, the last couple of years, I mean, over the last few years, I’ve had a really warm welcome every time I’ve come, to be honest. There was one time when we were really fighting against Ferrari. I can’t remember what year that was, but even then, people were positive. There was never any negativity. I think over the past few years, I’ve heard ‘viene Ferrari’? How do you say come to Ferrari?
Charles LECLERC: Viene in Ferrari?
LH: Viene in Ferrari. Yeah. So I heard that quite a lot. And so it’ll be interesting to see how that is this year. But already in Imola, for example, I got a really warm reception. And there was this amazing picture of me, you, and Fred. Did you see it?
CL: As saints. Yeah, I saw that one.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Dan Lawrence – Motorsport Monday) You were saying how these cars are on a knife edge trying to get the setup correct and fine tune them to get them into the right window. Does having Kimi in the car tomorrow, a rookie with that fresh mindset, could that be beneficial in trying to unlock performance? Because he might have insights or ideas that you and George, who obviously have preconceptions of the car, might not think of. Thank you.
LH: I mean, we’ll find out tomorrow. It’s definitely always good having more input. Yeah, I think for Kimi tomorrow, I think it’s just about enjoying yourself and having fun. This is going to be an amazing experience for him tomorrow. He’s obviously already tested the old car, but tomorrow is going to be the first time he’s, I believe, tested the new car, which is so much nicer than the 2022 car. So he’s going to be all smiles tomorrow for sure. It’s a drastic difference. And yeah, the more information and the more input we get, the better. So I don’t know what to expect, what he’s going to come back with, but we’ll definitely take it in.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Question to Lewis and also to Charles, please. Just following up, Lewis, what you mentioned earlier about the big changes that have been made to this track for this year, quite a lot of chat about that already and I appreciate you haven’t driven it yet, but Daniel Ricciardo saying this morning, you know, changing a lot of the kerbs have changed the characteristic of the track. I just wondered, he said it was disappointing. Do you agree with that and what do you guys think about, you know, how they have changed Monza for this year?
LH: I don’t want to judge it before I’ve driven it. Maybe we’ll get in and it’ll be the greatest thing and greatest changes ever. So I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot with that. Ultimately, we loved it before. For years, it’s been super bumpy in so many places and That’s been a huge part of the character of what this track is. The kerbs as well. that have been pretty much the same for definitely over 20 years, I would imagine. So it is a big, big change. But ultimately, it’s still the same track. But yeah, we won’t know until tomorrow. It’s going to be a lot smoother, it looks, and probably quite a bit quicker.
Q: (Luke Smith – The Athletic) Lewis, a question for you again about the tifosi and the connection with them. I know that fan connection with Team LH throughout your career has meant a huge amount, so how excited are you to now build a fresh connection with tifosi and really strengthen that over the coming years?
LH: Honestly, I’m super excited. Every year having coming here and when you’re on the podium and seeing the tifosi all the way down to Turn 1. And throughout the world, to be honest, it’s definitely, again, I don’t know really what to expect, but I’m really looking forward to connecting with that community and being on the journey with them as we work towards taking the team forwards.
Q: (Rodrigo Franca – Car Magazine Brazil) Question to Lewis Hamilton. Lewis, since you signed to Ferrari, do you have a curious or funny story with the Tifosi, like somebody asking you to sign a Ferrari cap, or just saying some Italian words, and you are still learning Italian? How is your Italian, actually?
LH: My Italian is definitely not very good. It’s probably the same as it was when I was in karting, which was pretty bad. I’ve had some people that have asked me to sign Ferrari caps and I’ve been like: ‘no, no, it’s too early. It’s too soon.’ They’re trying to get ahead of the curve. But I have signed some caps, obviously. And yeah, I mean, we’re always talking about the kit and I’m always looking at the progress that they’re making through the year in terms of the image, where they’ve been, and it’s an incredible history they’ve had.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, there have been times in the past where you’ve been significantly behind in the title race and gone on to win the championship. Lando is obviously 70 points behind Max, nine races to go. Do you think that it’s doable that he can catch Max and maybe overtake him or at least take it to the wire this year?
LH: I mean, there’s a lot of points on the table, so I think it’s not impossible. I think ultimately Max probably only needs to finish second every race to win at this point, and he [Norris] would have to win every single race and that still wouldn’t be enough. So there’ll need to be some fortune in it. I do think, and what’s really exciting, I think there’s a real chance that McLaren could win the Constructors’ title. And I think that’s really, really exciting because obviously I was there when we did win the last Constructors’. Obviously it got taken away from us, but we won it in terms of performance that year. I don’t think they’ve won since, so I think that could be really exciting, I think, not only for them, but also for the sport. And, yeah, I hope that it goes down to the wire, because I think that would be great for the fans. But, yeah, with their performance they showed last weekend, maybe they could.
Q: (Veliko Jukic – Auto Focus) I have one difficult question for all three of you. You are experienced professionals, top-level sportsmen, and still you drive on the brink of impossible. When you do a really fast corner, when you go straight speed to the maximum possible, when you do one fast corner on the extreme limit, do you still have time for your feelings? Do you have time to say: ‘Wow, that was it? That’s what we live for, that’s what we race for.’
LH: I mean, I think that’s a really good question. I think like anything, there is an element of you being used to it. So when we accelerate down to Turn 1 out of the pit lane, there’s no fear there because it is part of what we do. But I don’t know how it is for everyone else. But for me personally, when I get strapped in the first time and they start up the car, I get the same bubbly feeling inside. And then when everyone moves the tyre blankets away and you pull out into the pit lane and drive out into Turn 1 and just do your first lap, I mean, I always get a huge thrill. And there’s so many moments that I still pinch myself that I still get to do this. It’s really something I wish you could all feel and experience. But the cool thing… And it’s probably why I’m still racing, is that it’s not become such the norm that I don’t feel it. If I was numb to it, that would really suck. And I’d probably be doing something else. But I’d have to fly fighter jets or something really low or something, I don’t know, to come anywhere near close.
Q: (Dan Lloyd – Racecar Engineering) Lewis, Pirelli are saying that the tyre temperatures could go up, sorry, the track temperature could go up over 50 degrees with the resurfaced tracks. Is that a worry for Mercedes at all?
LH: Not at the moment, no. We had good deg in the last race. I mean, everyone, I think, thinks about it, but I don’t think our deg was particularly bad in the last race and it was kind of warm. It’s not currently a concern. We think the temp… Yeah, if it does get up there, then we’ll deal with it. And I think the surface is going to be really interesting for us all to experience tomorrow.
