Booing just makes me stronger, Lewis Hamilton tells Ferrari fans

Monza: Ferrari fans had mocked up a picture of Lewis Hamilton as a cry baby ahead of the Italian Grand Prix but the Mercedes driver was not the one shedding tears of frustration at Monza on Sunday.

The boos and jeers rang out as the beaming Briton bounded out onto the podium as a five times winner of Ferrari's home race — and the mass of red-shirted 'tifosi' showed how much it hurt.

Hamilton had started third, behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel on the starting grid, and yet he beat them both to stretch his championship lead to 30 points with seven races remaining.

Monza is the one race a Ferrari driver always has to win and none has done that since 2010. The wait will now go on for another year.

"Here there was a lot of negativity, as there is when you're against an opposing team," Hamilton said as a throng of fans invaded the track and filled the start-finish straight with their red flags and flares.

"In future, the negativity is really a positive thing for me because I harness it and turn it from negative to positive,"

added the 33-year-old, who also paid tribute to his fans for holding firm.