Lewis Hamilton was blunt after the Italian Grand Prix qualifying session, describing Ferrari's handling of the final stage as "pretty bad". The Scuderia had entered the weekend with realistic hopes of fighting for pole at their home circuit, yet they never truly got into the mix during the knockout phases.
By the time Q3 rolled around, three Mercedes-powered cars had already set faster times, including an unexpected pole position for Alpine's Pierre Gasly. The grid penalties handed to Oscar Piatri shifted the starting order slightly, meaning Charles Leclerc and Hamilton will line up on the second row in third and fourth places respectively. That outcome may actually be a blessing in disguise, considering that Ferrari's drivers had only managed ninth and tenth quickest laps in Q2.
Hamilton himself narrowly escaped an early elimination, edging out Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto by a whisker of 0.001 seconds. In a candid interview with Sky Sports F1, the five‑time world champion explained how the session unfolded. "It was definitely very, very tough," he said, noting that the car felt strong during practice and the early parts of qualifying. "I didn't change anything, so I felt good going into Q1, and Q1 was solid.
Then we sat and waited, and we waited very long in the pit lane for the first run of Q2, and for some reason we just didn't have the pace. I'm not really sure why, whether it was tyre pressures, tyre temperatures or whatever, so we need to look into that." Hamilton went on to describe the Q3 performance as a breakdown in rhythm.
"Then execution in Q3 was pretty bad. I ended up out in the middle of nowhere with nobody, and then when you're following another car, you arrive several kilometres faster into a corner, so the braking distances adjust. It's all about getting into rhythm, and I got really out of rhythm for Q3, run one.
Q3, run two, it wasn't a terrible lap but the references were all different, and we ultimately didn't maximise." His words paint a picture of a driver who felt the car was capable but was hampered by a combination of strategic missteps and perhaps a lack of data on tyre behaviour. Leclerc, who qualified third, echoed the sentiment of a difficult session. He called the qualifying "a big struggle" and pointed to "many issues in the background that we had to deal with".
The Monegasque driver added, "I'm pretty sure if we speak in the paddock, everyone had some issues, because it's one of the most difficult tracks to optimise the power unit on. But that's not an excuse. Pierre and Alpine did everything perfect and I think they surprised everyone in the paddock by doing a perfect job.
I'm very happy for Pierre, by the way. Now it's our job to try and recover what we kind of lost on our own today. I don't think pole was possible but one place better was probably doable and we need to target on maximising everything and today we didn't." Despite the setbacks on Saturday, Ferrari still sit at the front of Sunday's grid and cannot be dismissed as race‑winning contenders. Mercedes' George Russell will likely start from second place and remains the favourite, but the upgraded engine Ferrari introduced for Monza was intended to narrow the straight‑line speed gap.
Hamilton acknowledged that Mercedes still enjoys a measurable advantage on the long straights, saying, "I think we have a really great car. It's all Mercedes engines up ahead of us and I think we've done a good job to be as close as we are to them, but they're ultimately gaining several tenths still on the straight.
That is what it is, and so we have to just do the best we can." He also expressed hope that future circuits might not rely as heavily on outright power, adding gratitude toward the Ferrari factory for delivering the upgrade. "We're hoping for some tracks that don't maybe rely too much on power in the future, but I'm really grateful to the guys back at the factory because they did bring an upgrade here, they are really pushing.
This is just the situation that we're in," Hamilton said. Leclerc highlighted that strategic energy deployment could still give Ferrari a fighting chance during the race. "On the straights, Mercedes are very strong. In the corners, we are very strong but we are going to be very exposed on the straights and to attack will be difficult," he explained.
"But the deployment could make a huge difference one way or another and give us the opportunity to overtake. We will have to play it smart and see where we end up." The weekend schedule continues with a packed program on Sunday, September 6: the F3 Feature Race at 7:10 am, the F2 Feature Race at 8:40 am, the Porsche Supercup at 10:40 am, followed by the build‑up to the Grand Prix at 12:30 pm.
The Italian Grand Prix itself will start at 2:00 pm, with the chequered flag expected around 4:00 pm, and post‑race analysis slated for 5:00 pm. The event will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 and also available via the NOW streaming service without a long‑term contract.