Lewis Hamilton's emotional radio message as Ferrari shows glimmer of hope

Lewis Hamilton delivered an inspiring radio message following the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, praising his team and expressing gratitude to the fervent Ferrari fanbase while highlighting the Prancing Horse's road to recovery.

The Scuderia had a disappointing Saturday in front of their home crowd as both Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc were knocked out in Q2.Starting 11th and 12th on the grid, the prospects of earning significant points for the Constructors' Championship seemed bleak.

However, race day told a different story. Ferrari showed a strong pace on Sunday, with Leclerc overtaking several cars thanks to an early undercut. Hamilton, on the other hand, stayed out longer on hard compound tires and took advantage of a virtual safety car to align his strategy with the surrounding cars. It marks a change from the recent concerns coming out of the team.

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Towards the end of the race, a mechanical failure forced Kimi Antonelli to retire, triggering a safety car. Leclerc was left to fight for position on worn tires, but Hamilton capitalized on his fresh rubber, passing his teammate and the in-form Williams star Alex Albon.

As the checkered flag waved, he was hot on the heels of Oscar Piastri for the final podium spot.

On the radio, Hamilton praised his team and credited the fans. "Thanks so much mate! What a great race guys!" he said. "Fantastic stops, strategy, the car felt great today. I'm so grateful, so proud. Grazie a tutti! And for the Tifosi... that was for them."

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Race engineer Riccardo Adami commended his performance to which the the Brit replied: "Let's keep pushing. We get that qualifying better and we can race like that, we will be winning."

Expanding more on the experience after the race, Hamilton said: "I mean, obviously I couldn't hear them, but to drive in front of the Tifosi today [and] this weekend has been a highlight of the year so far," the 40-year-old said.

"There was a lot of pressure on us as a team, with struggling through the year so far with the car and particularly with our Qualifying, so to have such a strong race, to be moving forwards, making ground, it was such a great feeling."

Discussing the promising performance, he added: "I don't want to jinx it so, for sure, there's lots of positives to take away from today and we had pace, so we really need to dissect and understand where and why.

"I did think we would make an improvement this weekend with something we're trying to fix, and I think there's more to come, but the set-up was really good.

"The car felt pretty mega set-up wise, and the strategists, the team did a fantastic job with strategy calls, with the pit stops, so overall mega job from Ferrari."