Lewis Hamilton has called on Ferrari to put their full weight behind his Formula One world championship challenge, warning his chances are diminishing with every race. The British driver trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 59 points with 11 races remaining.
Qualifying struggles at Monza
Hamilton qualified fifth for the Italian Grand Prix, one place behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who is 87 points off the lead. Asked if it was time Ferrari gave him priority as their best title hope, Hamilton said: "Yeah, there's light at the end of the tunnel, but it's getting dimmer the further we get through."
He added: "The team is doing an amazing job in bringing upgrades and pushing us forward, I always want to make sure that I acknowledge them and recognise them for that. I want them to continue to push and I want them to stay hungry and keep that passion on fire. But also at the track we need to come correct and act. We need to make sure we get the results we need."
Pace mystery and tow strategy
Hamilton was nearly eliminated in Q2, struggling for pace and questioning Ferrari's decision-making in attempting to give both drivers a tow at the high-speed circuit. "I don't really fully understand why we were lacking so much pace in Q2, because we should have had pace like we did in the first one, but everyone just advanced forward, so I don't know if that's tyre pressure. I'm not quite sure, I need to look into that," he said.
He explained: "I think at the end, the team was solely focused on trying to get an equal tow for each driver and we just stumbled. We were supposed to do a push, cool, cool, push [sequence of laps]. But because everyone was waiting and Charles didn't want to go out first, we had to wait, wait, wait, and then we only got one push. It made it pretty challenging for us."
Title deficit and grid positions
Alpine's Pierre Gasly took a remarkable pole position, with Mercedes' George Russell, equal with Hamilton on points, second. With Antonelli starting from 20th after an engine-change penalty, Hamilton stressed the importance of the moment for Ferrari. "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," he said. "So yeah, we do have to work as a team."
Leclerc and Hamilton will start third and fourth respectively after McLaren's Oscar Piastri received a three-place grid penalty.
