Lewis Hamilton has admitted that the ending to Sunday's Italian GP brought back memories of his Abu Dhabi title decider against Max Verstappen, with the Mercedes driver on this occasion agreeing with the Safety Car application.

The 2022 Italian GP was similar to the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP in that there was a Safety Car called with few laps remaining.

At Monza, however, the race finished behind the Safety Car - with Max Verstappen beating Charles Leclerc - while in Abu Dhabi, the race was incorrectly restarted with one lap remaining.

Verstappen would overtake Hamilton, on older tyres, on that final lap, claiming a remarkable world championship.

There's only one time in the history of the sport where they haven't done the rules like that today," says Lewis Hamilton after Italian GP ending behind Safety Car; Hamilton lost title to Max Verstappen in controversial Abu Dhabi decider.

Hamilton, who finished fifth on Sunday, told Sky in Italy that he would have "loved to fight the guys behind me" if given the chance to restart but said he ultimately agreed with the finish given the finale last year.

"It always brings memories back," said Hamilton. "That is the rules how it should be, right?

,Verstappen was cruising towards his fifth win in a row - 16 seconds ahead of the two-stopping Charles Leclerc - when Daniel Ricciardo ground to a halt in his McLaren on Lap 47 of 53, stopping his car in between the Lesmos.

While yellow flags were immediately waved, there was a slight delay before a Safety Car period was signaled.

Still, Verstappen and Leclerc followed many of their rivals into the pits on the following lap, fitting soft tyres as teams expected the race to get under way again shortly for an epic finale.

However, valuable time was wasted when the Safety Car came out in front of George Russell's car, in third, and not Verstappen. It also didn't initially release Russell and the 11 cars between him and the leader.

Mercedes told Russell to overtake the Safety Car, although the British driver refrained, with no green light showing to give him confidence to do so.

Another hindrance was the fact marshals were unable to move Riccardo's car, and a cherry picker only started to recover it with three laps remaining.

Shortly after, Russell and the other cars were allowed to make their way past the Safety Car, but Verstappen only got to his required position at the front of the Safety Car queue at the end of Lap 51 of 53.