Lewis Hamilton savoured a "vintage" experience at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, as he recorded his best finish for Ferrari in front of a sea of Scuderia fans at Imanol. 

Ferrari endured a terrible qualifying session on Saturday as Charles Leclerc started 11th on the grid and Hamilton one place behind him.

Ferrari had hoped upgrades to the rear of their car would put them closer to the front, but after both drivers dropped out before the top-10 qualifying shoot-out, Leclerc quipped they were "P-nowhere".

However, both drivers made up plenty of ground in Sunday's race after a late safety car closed the field, with Hamilton finishing fourth and Leclerc two places back in sixth.

Fresher tyres helped Hamilton pass his team-mate in a hectic finish, securing his best placing for Ferrari and narrowly missing out on the podium.

"I'm so, so happy, the experience with the Tifosi, wow... thank you to everyone who came out," he told Sky Sports.

"It was really special for me to see the sea of red, it looks like one of the biggest crowds we've had here. 

"It felt vintage, it felt like back in the day when I was watching Michael [Schumacher] race here, it was really great to see and experience."

The best fans a team could ever ask for   pic.twitter.com/xqrxDtEAqe

— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) May 18, 2025

Hamilton's previous best finish with Ferrari was fifth at the Bahrain Grand Prix, though he still sits sixth in the drivers' championship standings with 53 points, 12 behind Leclerc.

"I definitely didn't expect us to finish fourth, I didn't know where we would be able to come, given we were so far back," Hamilton continued.

"The car really felt great, and the team did a fantastic job with the strategy, they were faultless. We are slowly getting there and [engineer] Riccardo [Adami] did a fantastic job with his communication with me.

"I was calm, and I think he was calm, and the team were calm in executing the strategy and the pit stops were awesome.

"Overall, it was mega! I was hoping for some extra laps and maybe we could have fought for a podium."

In a dramatic finish, Leclerc was adjudged to have forced Alex Albon off the track and was subsequently ordered to give fifth place back to the Williams driver, though the Monegasque had no regrets.

He said: "You've got to race with heart and put your elbows out. You go to the limit and sometimes a bit over it. When you start P11, as a driver, I cannot accept the situation we are in.

"With Alex, it was on the limit for sure, as the rules are written, I was on the limit. I don't regret what I have done. 

"I knew when I didn't take a pit stop in the second safety car, it was going to be a difficult race."