Lewis Hamilton has urged Ferrari to 'work as a team' to cling onto his diminishing Formula 1 championship hopes. The seven-time world champion has called on his team to prioritise his ambitions at the Italian Grand Prix, a move that could irk Charles Leclerc, with the team having operated with the drivers on an equal footing thus far.
Grid positions and championship standings
Leclerc will line up third on the grid, just ahead of Hamilton in fourth, though only after a grid penalty pushed Oscar Piastri down the order into sixth. Hamilton lies joint-second in the drivers' championship, level on points with George Russell, who is second on the grid on Sunday.
The British icon still sits 59 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli. However, the Italian has to start from the back of the grid after an engine change, meaning there is an opportunity to gain on Hamilton's rival.
Hamilton's request and Ferrari's dilemma
Qualifying nearly ended in disaster when Hamilton came within just 0.001 seconds of elimination in Q2, while Leclerc scraped through by a mere 0.008 seconds. Leclerc is a further 28 points adrift in the championship standings.
Hamilton has now indicated that Ferrari must now abandon their equal-treatment policy and throw their weight behind his pursuit of an eighth F1 title.
"There's light at the end of the tunnel, but it's getting dimmer the further we get through," he said. "At the track, we need to come correct and act accordingly to make sure we get the result we need. We're at a point in the year where 59 points is a huge deficit to recover from, especially when Mercedes continue to be the leaders in speed. So yeah, we do have to work as a team."
However, his request is unlikely to be granted. Despite Hamilton's arrival, Leclerc holds the long-term contract and has been central to Ferrari's plans for several years.
Backing Hamilton's championship challenge now, when Leclerc remains within striking distance, risks upsetting the driver who represents their future. The British driver was left frustrated after qualifying, criticising his team's strategy in the latter stages of the session.
Hamilton's frustration and race outlook
He explained: "The car felt really good in practice and then, in qualifying, I didn't change anything so I felt good going into Q1, and Q1 was solid.
"And then we sat and waited, 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 or tyre temperatures or whatever. So we need to look into that.
"And the execution in Q3 was pretty bad - I ended up in the middle of nowhere, with nobody [to follow]. When you're following another car, you arrive several kilometres faster into a corner and so the braking distances adjust. It's all about getting into a rhythm and I got really out of rhythm for run one. Q3 run two, it wasn't a terrible lap but all the references were different and, ultimately, we just didn't maximise it."
Looking ahead to Sunday's race, despite the passionate home support backing Ferrari, Hamilton believes superior chances lie ahead. He remarked: "It's all Mercedes engines up ahead of us and we've done a really good job to be as close as we are to them, but they're ultimately gaining several tenths still on the straights and that is what it is.
"We just have to do the best we can. We're hoping for some tracks that don't rely too much on power in the future. But I'm really grateful to the guys back at the factory, because we did bring an upgrade here and they are really pushing. It's just the situation we're in."
