Lewis Hamilton fights emotions in first words after maiden Ferrari win | F1 | Sport

Lewis Hamilton thanked “the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for” and declared the title race on after finally securing his first Ferrari victory. The Brit showed supreme pace and benefitted from a slice of Virtual Safety Car luck to blow Mercedes away and romp to victory ahead of former team-mate George Russell.

Russell started on pole and led for the first half of the race, but Hamilton was on an alternative strategy and was catching all the time. And he and Ferrari took their chance when the VSC appeared after both Mercedes cars had pitted, grabbing a cheap stop for their final change of tyres and re-emerging in the lead.

And from there Hamilton was supreme, stretching out his lead all the time and was more than 20 seconds ahead of Russell by the time he took the chequered flag. There were wild celebrations from Ferrari staff in parc ferme while Hamilton crouched to the floor to gather his emotions, before taking the congratulations of Russell and Lando Norris and speaking for the first time.

He said: “First, I have to start and say a huge ‘grazie’ to everyone here, everyone back at the factory, and to Fred [Vasseur] for believing in me and bringing me to this team. I started out a dream last year which seemed almost impossible during my time last year. I nearly gave up hope, but the team continued to lift me up.

“We made so many changes and improvements and, on top of that, we have just the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for. So thank you, thank you to everybody.”

This is Hamilton’s 106th Grand Prix and he admitted his first one with Ferrari might be his most special yet. He added: “They’re all special in their own way, but this one is something else. I watched Ferrari have all their success when I was younger, watched it on the TV, and then when I’ve been racing here I’ve watched the screens and wondered what it would be like to win in that car.

“And now it’s come. Everyone worked so hard for it and truly deserves it, I’m forever grateful to them. This is just the first, I hope of many. Great pit stops today, great strategy. The car felt fantastic. Forza Ferrari!”

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli looked as though he was going to finish second after a late overtake on Russell who was fading fast. But then disaster struck for the Italian teenager as an engine failure left him stranded at the side of the circuit and allowed Hamilton to bring the points gap between them down to 41.

Hamilton remains cautious about what the rest of the season might hold, but he declared himself a participant in the title race if Ferrari continue their impressive upward trajectory. He said: “I definitely will take it. It’s a long, long way to go. They still have great pace as we can see, but we’re going to keep working and trying to close that gap. It’s not over, for sure.”