Palmer spots sign Ferrari may have fixed Hamilton's biggest complaint after Baku FP1

Straight-line speed has been a huge weak point for Ferrari this year, with Hamilton having previously estimated a four-tenths deficit to Mercedes on the straights before the introduction of their upgraded engine at Monza. However, the problem persisted even after the upgrade, with the seven-time world champion revealing that the Scuderia's engine was costing him in the region of six tenths during practice at the Italian Grand Prix. Fred Vasseur has also acknowledged that Ferrari has "a deficit of performance in the straight line" that the team needs to work on.

During F1TV's coverage of Thursday's FP1, Palmer first pointed out Ferrari's impressive engine power after noticing that Leclerc was using a technique to keep extra battery power in reserve for the long straight. After both Ferrari drivers posted competitive lap times, Palmer offered an encouraging assessment.

What made the result particularly notable was the tyre compound. Both Leclerc and Hamilton set their fastest laps on medium tyres, while their main rivals switched to the soft compound. Despite that disadvantage, Leclerc finished just four thousandths of a second behind Verstappen in third, with Hamilton close behind in fourth, the trio all four tenths adrift of Russell's benchmark.

Palmer pointed to the slipstream Russell received on his pace-setting flying lap as the only deciding difference at the top of the timesheets, arguing that the true gap between Ferrari and Mercedes may be even smaller than it appeared.

There is of course still a lot of track time remaining before Ferrari can confirm they have figured out how to compete with Mercedes on the power unit side of things. A significant detail emerged approaching Turn 15, where Leclerc showed a clear phase of super-clipping, aiming to recover as much energy as possible before the final high-speed run. Oversteer was also restricting traction on corner exit, meaning Leclerc and Hamilton could not always apply the throttle as efficiently as they wanted.

Still, after weeks of internal tension at Ferrari, with Hamilton having called for written rules of engagement and Leclerc describing the scrutiny of their rivalry as unfair, Palmer's observation introduces a welcome shift in the narrative. If the SF-26's power deficit is genuinely narrowing, it would address the root technical cause behind much of the frustration that has consumed the Scuderia in recent races.