Lewis Hamilton’s first Monza as a Ferrari driver always promised theatre. The curtains went up on Friday and the seven-time champion delivered the opening act the tifosi wanted: fastest in FP1, squarely in the mix in FP2, and sounding like a man who’s finally found the thing he spent a year chasing.
“It’s pretty incredible,” Hamilton said, still buzzing after his first laps in red at Ferrari’s home race. “Leaving the garage, the whole experience — Milan with the tifosi on Thursday, then rolling out here in a scarlet car — it’s everything I thought it would be, and more.”
If the sentiment was romantic, the stopwatch was clinical. Hamilton topped the first session with a 1:20.117, Charles Leclerc tucking in behind to make it a Ferrari one-two in FP1. The second hour was scrappier as the team explored set-up options: Leclerc stayed in the top two while Hamilton slipped to fifth, the Briton admitting the tweaks didn’t quite land.
“FP1 was strong,” he said. “In FP2 we changed the car and went the wrong way. The good thing is we can revert. Better to learn that now than in FP3. Lots of positives — we’ll tidy it up overnight.”
It’s a visible shift in mood for Hamilton, who came into the summer break frustrated after a bruise of a run that included calling himself “useless” during the Hungarian GP build-up. He used the shutdown to reset and, judging by Friday’s body language, it stuck. There’s clarity in his voice again — and a bit of bite.
He’ll need it. A five-place grid penalty hangs over his weekend after stewards judged he failed to slow sufficiently near the pits during the reconnaissance lap at Zandvoort under double-waved yellows. Not the sort of administrative foot-fault you want at Monza, where passing is possible but far from trivial when DRS trains form and the top teams are covered by tenths.
“Obviously the penalty is unfortunate,” Hamilton shrugged. “Better to take it now than next year, I guess. I’m still optimistic. The car felt a lot better today, and I feel I can move forward.”
The read on the opposition is familiar. McLaren look lively — no surprise on a low-drag layout — and there’s a sense the top five teams could end up tripping over each other in qualifying if the slipstream games get messy. Hamilton acknowledged as much: the McLarens “are very, very fast,” and the whole thing looks tight.
On the other side of the garage, Leclerc was candid about Ferrari’s balance window. Quick, yes. Composed, not quite.
“On low fuel and high fuel, it was tricky but fast,” he said. “I’d rather that than a consistent car that’s slow. We need to work on consistency. On the short runs we more or less extracted what was there. With both cars we tried different things, especially in FP1, and we’ve got a clearer direction for tomorrow.”
That’s the Friday picture at Monza in a nutshell: Ferrari hot early, but with enough rough edges to keep everyone honest. The paddock cliché about Ferrari looking strong on Fridays will get its usual airing; the question is whether this Ferrari, with Hamilton’s feedback now shaping it from within, converts the noise into a clean Saturday.
For Hamilton, though, the story is bigger than sector times. This is the one he circled in permanent marker when he signed. The sea of red, the bellows of the Curva Parabolica grandstands, the first time he pulls out of the garage and onto the pit straight with that prancing horse on his chest — it’s the kind of scene that makes a career move feel right, regardless of how pragmatic the championship math might be.
He wasn’t overselling it. “It will continue tomorrow,” he corrected himself after a moment of caution. “I’ll make the changes tonight and come with a fresh head.”
The Italian Grand Prix rarely needs help finding drama. Ferrari certainly doesn’t. Add a rejuvenated Hamilton, a razor-thin competitive order, and a grid drop that forces the issue on Sunday, and you’ve got a weekend with teeth. If Friday was the overture, qualifying will tell us if this new partnership can carry the tune when the volume goes up.
