Lewis Hamilton was left visibly frustrated after the Italian Grand Prix qualifying session, describing Ferrari's handling of the final phase as "pretty bad". The Italian team had entered the weekend with realistic hopes of challenging for pole at their home circuit, but they never truly got into the mix during the knockout rounds. In the end, three Mercedes-powered cars, including an unexpected pole from Alpine's Pierre Gasly, left the Scuderia trailing in Q3. Because Oscar Piastri incurred a three‑place grid penalty, Charles Leclerc will line up in third place and Hamilton in fourth, both on the second row.
That outcome may actually be a blessing in disguise, given how poorly the Ferraris performed in Q2, posting the ninth‑fastest and tenth‑fastest times respectively. Hamilton himself escaped a shocking early elimination by a razor‑thin margin of 0.001 seconds, edging out Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto.
When reflecting on his own lap, Hamilton noted that the session was dominated by drivers seeking a slipstream, or "tow", to boost straight‑line speed. He told Sky Sports F1: "It was definitely very, very tough, yes.
The car felt really good in practice and in 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. 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." Leclerc, who qualified third, echoed the sentiment, calling the session "a big struggle" and pointing to "many issues in the background that we had to deal with". He added that the difficulty of optimising the power unit at Monza affected the whole paddock, but that was no excuse for the sub‑par performance. "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," he said. Despite the disappointment on Saturday, Ferrari remains on the front row for Sunday's race and cannot be ruled out as a potential winner.
However, Mercedes' George Russell will likely start as the favourite, given his second‑place grid slot and the team's historically strong straight‑line speed at Monza. Ferrari introduced an upgraded power unit for the weekend, hoping to close the gap, yet Hamilton observed that Mercedes still enjoys a clear advantage on the long straights. "I think we have a really great car," Hamilton remarked.
"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. 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." Leclerc added that strategic deployment of energy during the race could still give Ferrari a chance to capitalize, especially given the high‑speed nature of the circuit. "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." Looking ahead, the weekend schedule includes a full day of support races: 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 events for the Grand Prix. The Italian Grand Prix itself kicks off at 2:00 pm, with the chequered flag expected around 4:00 pm, after which the post‑race reaction and analysis will be broadcast.
All of this will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 and also streamed via NOW without a long‑term contract, allowing viewers to cancel at any time.