Lewis Hamilton drove himself into the Monza paddock on Thursday behind the wheel of a restored Ferrari F40, wearing a black suit, Kangol cap and brown overcoat. His mother Brenda, who is at Monza for the first time, was there to see the entrance in person.
The showmanship framed a heavier ambition. Hamilton told Sky Sports he had spent the week thinking about what a Ferrari win at the Italian Grand Prix would actually represent, since no Black driver has ever managed it in the Scuderia’s history.
“Winning in Monza for the first time with Ferrari is something I’ve witnessed Charles [Leclerc] win in 2019, when I was on the podium with him. But to do it while I’m here would be phenomenal,” Hamilton said.
He is level with Michael Schumacher on five career wins at Monza, and Ferrari’s home race is one of the few big prizes he has never taken with the Scuderia.
An upgrade that isn’t the whole gap
Ferrari confirmed a new power unit for the weekend, their second and final upgrade under Formula 1’s ADUO development scheme in 2026, following a first step at the Austrian Grand Prix in June.
“On the performance side, we are introducing an updated power unit as part of the development opportunities available under ADUO,” team principal Fred Vasseur told GPFans.
“It represents a step in the right direction and as we know this year is very much about marginal gains.”
Hamilton put a number on what Ferrari have been giving up.
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“Every little helps, and I think up until this point of the year we’ve been losing, even in the last race on such a short circuit we were losing four tenths a lap through the race,” he said.
“It’s not the whole gap that we need but we knew that would be the case,” Hamilton said of the new specification.
“I strongly still believe that we’ve got what it takes to win,” he added.
Antonelli starts at the back
The championship leader has boxed himself in. Kimi Antonelli, who leads the drivers’ standings by 59 points, will start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid after Mercedes took a fresh engine.
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Hamilton’s own season has swung both ways. He took his first win for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on 14 June, but has not been able to build a title challenge on it.
“I see a different focus this year to last year,” he told Sky Sports. “Now we have a north star, and we know where we need to work towards.”
The Italian Grand Prix runs at Monza on Sunday 6 September.
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