Car-crash season with Ferrari weighing on Hamilton ahead of Monza homecoming

MONZA - Lewis Hamilton is in the midst of a crisis of confidence and results that the Formula One icon has never known in his storied career, as Ferrari's fans hope for a sharp turnaround at the Italian Grand Prix.

Seven-time F1 champion Hamilton's arrival at Maranello made Ferrari's vociferous support dream of an end to an 18-year wait for a world title to be won by a driver in red.

Instead, the 40-year-old trails championship leader Oscar Piastri by a whopping 200 points after a disastrous campaign with Ferrari, which not only hasn't brought him any GP wins, but not even a single podium finish.

Last weekend's Dutch GP was the lowest point of the year for the Scuderia, with both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc crashing out of a race which had been preceded by the Briton twice spinning his car in practice.

Nonetheless, Hamilton still appears to be happy to be with the sport's most famous team, telling Sky in Italy on Wednesday that it was "really special to remember that I'm a Ferrari driver" every time he comes to Italy.

Hamilton and Leclerc, who delighted fans by winning at Monza last year, were greeted enthusiastically by hordes of supporters at an event held in the shadow of Milan' famous Gothic cathedral.

"Yesterday was such a unique experience. Yesterday morning, I got to Maranello, and when you walk in and you see the Ferrari logo, I mean, I still have to pinch myself," Hamilton told reporters on Thursday.

"There's clearly just so much love for this brand and for what it means to people. And to be in Milan, in the heart of it all yesterday and seeing the fans and just how passionate they were about it, it was intense, but very, very positive."

Hamilton has taken badly his failure to perform after switching to Ferrari following 12 years at Mercedes, referring to himself as "completely useless" at the Hungarian GP in an outburst which led to talk of him quitting the sport come the end of the year.

"It's been an emotional rollercoaster. What can I say? Did I expect it to be as volatile in terms of the feeling? No. But that's life," he said.

"The sun may be coming out on the brighter end of the tunnel."

MCLAREN DOMINANCE

And his chances of making the Monza masses happy were further hit after the Dutch GP when he was handed a five-place grid penalty for this weekend after failing to slow down in a yellow flag zone on his way to the grid.

"There's no point whinging about it," added Hamilton.

"It's going to be a challenge this weekend in qualifying as it's already so close between us all. Just getting to Q3 is tough, getting in the top five is very, very tough."

Hamilton and Leclerc are in truth little more than a photogenic sideshow as McLaren duo Piastri and Lando Norris battle for a drivers'crown which would be the first for the British team since 2008, when Ferrari won their last constructors' title.

Piastri has 309 points from 15 GPs and leads his teammate by 34 after Norris failed to finish the race in Zandvoort after suffering a mechanical failure in the closing laps.

Between them, Piastri and Norris have won all but three races this season at the wheel of McLaren cars which have blown away the competition.

Not even reigning champion Max Verstappen has had enough to challenge McLaren and a 104-point gap separating him from Piastri suggests that his run of F1 titles is set to end at four in a row.

Dutchman Verstappen managed to finish second in front of his home fans last weekend, pouncing on Norris' misfortune, but he is realistic about his chances of putting pressure on Piastri over the final nine races of the season.

The famously blunt 27-year-old has already said that his goal for the rest of the campaign is to "just try to make the best of it", starting at a circuit where he has won twice.