Fred Vasseur is optimistic Lewis Hamilton will finish the season strongly after declaring the seven-time champion was "back on the pace" after his July struggles.

Hamilton finished sixth in his first Italian GP for Ferrari, making up four positions after starting 10th having carried over a five-place grid penalty for an infringement at the Dutch GP.

Team-mate Charles Leclerc started and finished in fourth behind race winner Max Verstappen and the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

In July, a visibly down Hamilton had called himself "useless" but he has returned from F1's summer break in more positive spirits. While he crashed out of the Dutch GP in damp conditions, at both Zandvoort and Monza the 40-year-old has been on a similar pace to Leclerc in qualifying, while he topped the opening practice session of the Italian GP.

Vasseur is hopeful the support Hamilton has received from the Tifosi this weekend will spur him on for the rest of the season.

He told Sky Sports F1: "He came back. With the penalty he was in the middle of the pack but had a strong first stint.

"We tried to have a tyre advantage at the end [against George Russell] but the degradation was too low.

"It was a very good race and I'm very pleased for him because he had a tough time in July and he's back. He's back on the pace.

"He had a good weekend, a good mood, good approach and I think it will help [for the rest of the season]."

Expanding on Hamilton's improved mood, he told the written media: "Honestly, I think this started in Zandvoort last week. It's difficult to say because the outcome of the weekend was not positive for him, but at the end of the day, the pace was better from the beginning compared to Charles, that the mood was better.

"During the race, he was fighting with Russell until lap 30. That means that he was back in a better position. And I think the energy that he received from the Tifosi Wednesday, Thursday in Milano was something very special for him. I don't know if it was expected from him or I don't know what he was expecting from this, but it was something mega.

"And I think this gave him an extra boost all over the weekend. For sure, we had to serve the penalty and we knew from the beginning of the weekend that with plus five it's not an easy one, but he came back behind Russell and the pace was there from the first lap of FP1 to the last lap of the race."

Hamilton: I felt on top of the car

Hamilton has had a hard time adjusting to the differences of the Ferrari car after 12 years at Mercedes, but was positive about how in control he had felt of the SF-25 at Monza.

"I definitely felt on top of the car today and I was really happy with it," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.

"A really good launch, got squeezed between a couple of cars so had to back off but was really happy with my position into Turn One and Turn Four.

"After that I got really close to George and in hindsight we should have tried to undercut him. Going long just didn't pay off. That is something we'll learn from.

"Otherwise after the penalty to move back to sixth I'm really grateful. To be able to have a solid drive like that today in front of the Tifosi - it's unbelievable driving here under this banner."

Hamilton's former team-mate Nico Rosberg was pleased to hear more positivity in the seven-time champion's voice this weekend,.

"It's very reassuring," Sky Sports F1 pundit Rosberg said. "Lewis has had a good weekend. He's behind Charles but he's had a good weekend and I'm loving his positivity.

"That's a nice change there and if he can carry that forwards, Baku is a strong track for him and hopefully he can come out of this difficult time and now have some great races."

Despite his more positive weekend, Hamilton is unsure when a first podium finish for him at Ferrari will come.

Asked if he now had the car to fight for podiums in the coming races, Hamilton replied: "I don't think so. Today Charles was giving it everything. Max is up there now. We don't have the pace of Red Bull - today they were rapid - and we don't have the pace of McLaren.

"So I think we are currently fourth, fifth. If we do an exceptional job we can maybe get a podium here or there. There's a chance we can have that but in terms of pure pace we don't have that."

Leclerc: No regrets on Monza performance | Where might Ferrari fight for win?

Leclerc had won at Monza in 2024 after starting from P4 with an alternate strategy, but there would be no repeat in 2025.

The Monegasque driver was involved in a very hard battle with Piastri in the opening stages of the race as the duo swapped positions multiple times in a frantic start before ultimately having to settle for a spot off the podium.

Leclerc insisted after the race he had no regrets about how he had approached his racing in those opening stages and outlined where Ferrari may have more chance of victory in the closing rounds of the season.

"It was a nice battle with Oscar [at the start]. I felt like I was overtaking when he was doing a mistake and he was overtaking me when I did a mistake," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1.

"They just had more pace than I did. I tried things that were not in the car and so I lost the rear multiple times and that meant I couldn't hope for much better unfortunately.

"I tried, I don't have any regrets. Unfortunately the pace in the car was a little bit worse than what we expected.

"Singapore, maybe Baku and Las Vegas are maybe the tracks we are a bit closer to win a race. But we don't go there as favourites. I think we are third favourites - maybe if Red Bull struggles maybe second force but never the first ones so it will always be quite uphill and difficult."

Formula 1 heads to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on September 19-21, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime

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