Monza setback for Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton in P5: “Just plain bad”

No one has secured more pole positions at Monza than Lewis Hamilton: he has started from the front of the grid at the Royal Park on seven occasions. But since Hungary 2023, the seven-time Formula 1 champion has failed to secure a Grand Prix pole position, and his chances of changing that at Monza in 2026 have vanished into thin air. No Ferrari on the front row, Charles Leclerc fourth fastest, Lewis Hamilton in P5 – given the high expectations of Ferrari fans, this is a blow for the world’s most famous Scuderia, which has secured 24 pole positions here at Monza.

Lewis Hamilton never really seemed to get into his stride in the final practice session, finishing eighth in Q1 and scraping through to the final qualifying segment in 10th place.

How does the driver with 105 pole positions explain the Italians’ lacklustre performance? Lewis says: “That was an extremely difficult qualifying session. In free practice, my Ferrari felt really good. (At that stage, Lewis was still second-fastest behind Mercedes driver George Russell, M.B.) Because I was happy with the car, I left the set-up unchanged for qualifying.”

“The feel of the car was right at the start of Q1 too. Then we waited quite a long time before our next run, and suddenly that good feeling had vanished. I don’t know if that’s down to the delicate balance between track temperature, tyre pressure and the temperature of the rollers. We absolutely must get to the bottom of that.”

“What we then showed in Q3 was simply awful. We executed it really badly; I went out onto the track and felt completely lost. If you benefit from the slipstream of the car in front, you do approach certain corners faster, but you have to re-establish your braking points, and it’s all about finding a good rhythm whilst doing so.”

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“The second attempt was dreadful; I get the impression we didn’t make the most of our potential.”

Hamilton is clearly struggling to come to terms with this result, “because we do have such a good car. I think only Mercedes are slightly ahead of us. Unfortunately, they’re still faster than us on the straights. I hope we’ll look better on circuits where chassis performance matters more than engine power. I know everyone at Ferrari is giving their all to ensure Charles and I have a fast race car.”