Lewis Hamilton says he was "very emotional" on the podium having won the Italian Grand Prix.
The championship leader took a dominant victory at Monza, though he had to wait more than two hours to have his win confirmed as stewards investigated a Mercedes tyre pressure discrepancy. With the podium in Italy elevating the drivers over a sea of fans on the pit straight, Hamilton admits it was a special result for him.
"This weekend has been just fantastic," Hamilton said. "It has been a perfect weekend for me. I don’t know if I have ever had a weekend like this. This circuit is such a special one … I think it’s the same for all the drivers.
"When you stand on top of that podium you feel incredible pride and incredibly proud to be amongst the greats that have stood up there and when you see a sea of fans – a lot of them in red – but the sea of fans is just unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s very emotional when you are up there."
With the final winning margin being over 25 seconds, Hamilton says he had the car set-up exactly where he wanted it.
"The race was fantastic. I got a good start. I think we all probably got a difficult start and managed to hold ground. Sebastian was really fair into Turn 1 and after that it was really just chipping away, looking after the tyres, trying to look after the tyres whilst chipping away… trying to take time away, increase the time, the gap behind. I was generally able to control it really after that.
"I felt comfortable. The car balance I really got perfect for the race. Perhaps not so much for qualifying but perfect for the race. It was actually one of my favourite balances I’ve had through the year, in the actual race.
And Hamilton admits he was surprised by Mercedes' request for him to extend his advantage in the closing laps as the team tried to cover off a potential post-race penalty.
"The last few laps I was told to push and I’m thinking I’ve got quite a big gap already, so, for me, I was a little taken aback by it, but nonetheless I still managed to pull it out and do what they asked me to do."
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