Hamilton: Lucky to have caught it when Michael was still competing.

      At the press conference in Monza, Lewis Hamilton spoke again about how it is a huge honor for him to be a Ferrari driver, and he is especially proud that he was able to contribute to the common cause, thanks to which the team is progressing.

      Lewis Hamilton: "It is a huge honor and privilege for me to be a Ferrari driver and represent this best team in the world at the Italian Grand Prix, which also has an iconic status. I am experiencing these incredible emotions for the second year in a row, but everything still feels new because you can never get used to it.

      I haven't seen the car styled after Michael Schumacher's Ferrari yet, but I'm wearing a shirt with seven stars, which suits me just fine since I also have seven titles. You could say it brings incredibly pleasant feelings because I feel that it relates to me as well.

      Last year we paid tribute to Niki Lauda, who was a close friend of mine, and speaking of Michael, I remember that in my youth, the happiest Sundays began with me hearing the familiar music that started the Formula 1 broadcasts.

      By the way, that old music was better. It was the song "Chain" by Fleetwood Mac, and it was much better, and when I heard it, I knew I had to rush to the TV. I will always remember seeing Michael behind the wheel of the red car, and when I played on the computer, I always chose Michael's Ferrari and tried to imagine what it was like to be in his place.

      And now I have the honor to experience it myself, but I want to say that he was a magnificent leader and achieved great success in his career. Again, I was lucky to come to Formula 1 when he was still racing, and being on the track at the same time as him meant a lot to me.

      This year, up until the previous race, we were behind our competitors, but even the smallest technical innovations contribute to the car's efficiency, and I can say that I am very proud of our team because I see how hard everyone is working. This season has changed compared to last year, and I believe that everyone has done a tremendous job – it is a step forward, even if we have not yet fully made up for the deficit.

      But every weekend, there are new developments on the car, which is just great, and I believe that we have everything we need to fight for victories.

      The driver's job is to work with the team leaders to try to steer it in the right direction, ...and when I joined Scuderia, I insisted on the need to change a lot in the car, but it was impossible to do so last year due to budget constraints, and also because I constantly heard: why should we change anything, since we have always done it this way.

      It took a lot of effort to convince the team to make some of these changes, as some of them required significant costs, and the process took quite a bit of time. But I continued to work on the simulator and asked for these constructive changes to be tested on the simulator first, after which many were implemented in our car, and now we use them every weekend.

      I am grateful to Frederic Vasseur for allowing part of what I asked for to be realized, and now I feel a sense of pride because I see that we have truly made progress."