Emilia Romagna GP Recap: Progress in Imola

P6 and P7 at Imola may not look like progress on paper, but the gaps to those ahead and behind leaves room for optimism.

The Team will make the journey to Monaco this week confident it is heading in the right direction.

"We have taken a step forward. We have improved," said Lewis post-race.

"But we need to keep going until we get those upgrades to really close the gaps."

From the cockpit to the pit wall, Toto was also pleased with what he saw at our first visit to Imola in two years.

He said: "We are on a trajectory where we are making the car better, we can see that. I feel more confident now.

Progress will be steady, but the team know that is the right way forward.

"We are now seeing those incremental gains, rather than that miracle update," added Toto.

"We are getting the car in a better window and making it have more performance.

"I feel more confident."

Our focus is on what is to come, but last week saw us take time to look back, to both celebrate and reflect.

A different type of reflection followed on Thursday, as the team - along with the rest of the F1 paddock - came together to pay tribute to Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, on our first visit to Imola since the 30th anniversary of the pair's tragic incidents at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel led the ceremony, which included a track run and a moment of reflection at memorials for both drivers.

Having paid tribute to Ayrton and Roland, attention then turned to the track, and by the time the final throws of Qualifying came around on Saturday afternoon, there was a sense of satisfaction among the Team as we looked at the timesheets.

Q3 had been reached without stress and there was a chance to get in amongst it with Perez's Red Bull out of position in P11.

The margins were close. For George, it was a case of less than the blink of an eye. Or a few bites of a sandwich...

"I regret having such a big lunch! A slightly smaller lunch and I would have been P5," joked George after qualifying a millisecond off Carlos Sainz's Ferrari.

"I had a small sandwich... maybe I should have had half-a-small sandwich!"

Lewis had not quite been able to find the same pace, but was nicely placed to make the most of any mishaps ahead in P8, more confident in the potential of W15.

"We will only be able to make small gains, but we look to try and make up places tomorrow," he said.

"George did a great job to be just four tenths off pole, so that is clearly a good step forward for us."

Indeed, when George made his first stop at the end of the first stint from P6, he was just three seconds adrift of P5. In Miami two weeks ago, the gap to the front three teams had been over 16 seconds at the same stage of the Grand Prix.

Lewis had made a strong start from P8, jumping Tsunoda at the start, and was able to extend his first stint, running as high as second before changing tyres on lap 28.