Lewis Hamilton has described his first Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari as "living the dream", despite conceding the season has been an "emotional rollercoaster". The seven-time world champion received a rapturous welcome in Milan and at Monza, where he and teammate Charles Leclerc were mobbed by the tifosi.
"There are still things you couldn't foresee," Hamilton said of his move to Ferrari. "There's been a lot of adjustment both from my side and the team." Team principal Fred Vasseur admitted the team may have underestimated the challenges of integrating Hamilton while grappling with car problems.
Hamilton will drop five places on the grid due to a penalty carried over from Zandvoort, but the focus this weekend is on a special tribute to Niki Lauda. Both Ferrari drivers will race in a 1975-themed livery celebrating Lauda's championship win at Monza, a design Hamilton described as "really cool" given his close friendship with the late Austrian.
"I know right now what he would be saying to me," Hamilton said. "He would always say 'give them arseholes'."
