Lewis Hamilton both ‘nervous’ and ‘excited’ for his Ferrari debut in Italy

Lewis Hamilton is about to experience a first.

His first home race in Italy as a driver for Ferrari.

This week marks the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, held at the historic Imola Circuit. However, the full name of the track is the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, which speaks to the importance of this race for Ferrari, and now for Hamilton.

Ahead of his first home race as a Ferrari driver, Hamilton and the team shared this video on social media, with the driver talking about his hopes and expectations for this week:

“I’m getting the feel, the love, and the desire, and the passion from every single person that Ferrari touches. It’s something that I’ve never experienced before,” begins Hamilton.

“Coming to Italy for the first time, as a Ferrari driver, I’m both nervous and also excited. To be actually in Italy and being home with the team in their home country, I think is something that I am really, really looking forward to experiencing.

“Thank you for the welcome that you’ve given me, to being in the family and the team. I am incredibly honored to be a part of it. I’m working very hard to make sure that we get the results that you deserve and the team deserves, and I won’t give up until I achieve that.”

Hamilton’s first season with Ferrari has produced mixed results to date. He secured his first win for the team in the F1 Sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix and added a second podium in the F1 Sprint race with a P3 at the Miami Grand Prix.

However, his best Grand Prix result came in the Bahrain Grand Prix, with a fifth-place finish. After placing eighth in the Miami Grand Prix — and seeming frustrated on the radio during the race — Hamilton outlined to the media, including SB Nation, just how much potential he sees in the team.

“I generally, I had a good day in general,” began Hamilton when speaking with the media after the Miami Grand Prix. “Eighth doesn’t really look like that, but I feel optimistic for the future.

“I think this car really does have performance.

“But something’s holding us back at the moment, which, we’ve lost performance since China. It’s there, it’s just we can’t use it.

“So [until] we get a fix for that, then is where we are. But in the meantime, we can work on all the other stuff, processes, but as I said I came from the same last week. I felt like I generally had a better weekend. To get the third yesterday [in the F1 Sprint race] was a positive.”

The driver also detailed how he still has the “fire” to fight at the front.

“I still got that fire in my, in my belly. I can feel a little bit of it like, really coming out there, and I’m not gonna apologize for being a fighter,” added Hamilton after the Miami Grand Prix. “I’m not gonna apologize for still wanting it. And I know everyone in the team does too. And I truly believe that when we fix some of the problems that we have with the car, we’ll be back in the fight with the Mercedes, with the [Red] Bulls and it just can’t come quick enough. But we’ll try something different in the next race.

“We’ll keep working on our processes.

“I look forward to a time when maybe I can fight for a podium, that would be nice.”

Could that first Grand Prix podium fight come in his first home race with Ferrari?