Hamilton identifies Ferrari's key weakness after difficult Friday at Monza
19:19, 04 Sep
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Kieran is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs and feature content across the F1 calendar. An NQJ-qualified journalist with more than a decade of experience, he has previously written for publications including MailOnline, the Manchester Evening News and the Eastern Daily Press.
Lewis Hamilton has pointed out the main issue where Ferrari lack to Mercedes, following Friday's practice sessions ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton finished second behind teammate Charles Leclerc in FP1, but was down in fifth in FP2, over four and a half tenths down on George Russell who topped the session. It was a worrying sign for Hamilton as he looks to win his first Italian Grand Prix in the Ferrari red.
Asked where the main limitations with his Ferrari were, he told the media, including GPblog: £Straight line speed is considerable. Just looking at the deltas, I was losing something like six tenths to George just in the straights, which is something we need to look at look into.
"And then just balance, it was really, really hard to pull a lap out of the car. It was not an easy one to drive in FP2 for some reason. So we made a couple of changes, but it shouldn't have really been bad. So we might revert, but we're gonna look and see if we can make the car better."
Asked whether Ferrari need to drop some downforce or whether their issues are solely power, he added: "I think that's what we need to look into if it's that, if it's deployments. But the engine is an improvement, which I'm really grateful for the guys back at the factory for for working on.
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"But our deployment schedule is different to the others, our competitors. But, yeah, it seems like they they maybe have less drag for the straights, so that is something we definitely need to look at."
Hamilton delivers Ferrari engine upgrade
His comments after FP2 compare to that of those on Thursday where he said Ferrari have what it takes to win and that they finally have a "North Star" when it comes to their 2026 developments.
He said: "Every little helps. And I think, you know, up until this point of the year, we’ve been losing, even in the last race on such a short circuit, we were losing four tenths a lap through the race. So that’s a huge deficit and we’ve carried that through the year to this point."
Hamilton added: "This is a step forward. It’s not the whole gap that we need, but we knew that would be the case. But to see bits coming each weekend, adding to the car, it’s exciting to see that we are pushing and, you know, strongly still believe that we’ve got what it takes to win."
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Italian Grand Prix
Overview
Friday 04.09.26
Practice 1
10:30 AM
Practice 2
02:00 PM
Saturday 05.09.26
Practice 3
10:30 AM
Qualification
02:00 PM
Sunday 06.09.26
Race
01:00 PM
Friday 04.09.26
Practice 1
Fri 10:30 AM
Practice 2
Fri 02:00 PM
Saturday 05.09.26
Practice 3
Sat 10:30 AM
Qualification
Sat 02:00 PM
Sunday 06.09.26
Race
Sun 01:00 PM
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F1-stand 2026
Season
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | MercedesMER | 242 | |
2 | MercedesMER | 183 | |
3 | FerrariFER | 183 | |
4 | McLarenMCL | 159 | |
5 | FerrariFER | 155 | |
6 | Red Bull RacingRBR | 112 | |
7 | McLarenMCL | 106 | |
8 | Red Bull RacingRBR | 71 | |
9 | Racing BullsRCB | 51 | |
10 | AlpineALP | 35 |
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