Lewis Hamilton’s Monza baptism in red: solid gains, awkward dance
There’s no hiding in a Ferrari at Monza. The tifosi know every nuance of the place, and they clocked Lewis Hamilton’s first Italian Grand Prix in scarlet for exactly what it was: not fireworks, but forward motion.
Burdened by a five-place grid penalty after a yellow-flag infringement in the Netherlands — the same weekend that brought his first DNF of 2025 — Hamilton arrived with expectations tempered. He then promptly topped opening practice. Come qualifying, he was 0.117s off Charles Leclerc and slotted fifth, a tidy effort undone by the carryover sanction that dropped him to 10th on the grid.
From there, Sunday was about control and craft. Hamilton worked the slipstream and strategy to climb to sixth at the flag, less than five seconds behind George Russell’s Mercedes. It’s not the kind of finish that earns a place in Ferrari folklore, but after the bruises of Zandvoort and a compromised starting spot, it was a professional salvage job — and a clear step in the right direction for a partnership still finding its rhythm.
“Solid progress,” Hamilton called it in a message to fans, adding that he “gave it everything” and tipping his cap to the tifosi for the reception. The love was mutual. Whatever the results sheet says, Monza felt like the first time the crowd saw the project, not just the poster.
Look past the headlines and there’s a more delicate story playing out. Hamilton’s adjustment to Ferrari’s SF-25 hasn’t been plug-and-play, and he hasn’t stood on a podium yet in red. The car’s been fussy about ride height since the season’s start, with a narrow operating window that punishes imprecision — exactly the kind of trait that forces drivers into someone else’s handbook. Hamilton admitted as much after the race, describing the technique the car demands as “alien,” not yet instinctive after years sculpting machinery to his taste.
In his own words, he’s used to being part of a car’s evolution over seasons, learning it inside-out. This year, he’s showing up and driving a language he didn’t write. That’s not critique. It’s the reality of parachuting into a title-chasing environment mid-cycle: the car asks certain things of you, and you either learn to give them or you wait for the next iteration. He’s doing the former now and quietly hoping for the latter — that next year the driving style “isn’t here” and he can lean closer to his natural game.
Hints of comfort did surface at Monza as the laps wore on. He looked freer through the Lesmos, more committed into Ascari, and the race pace was better than the starting position threatened. The number on the results sheet was P6; the number on the stopwatch told a better tale by the end.
Ferrari, for their part, know the SF-25’s quirks aren’t exactly a secret. The car can be devastating in the right window, but that window moves with track temp, wind and ride-height sensitivity. It makes weekends a game of inches, which is fine if you’re Charles Leclerc — who knows every wobble and whisper the chassis makes — and harder if you’re Hamilton, still mapping those edges on the fly.
The broader championship picture doesn’t bend for anyone’s learning curve, and Monza underlined that. Max Verstappen marched to another clean win, while McLaren’s internal choreography and Mercedes’ steadiness kept them fully in the conversation. Ferrari need both of their cars hitting peak pace more often if they’re going to convert one-off speed into sustained points pressure.
Still, Monza mattered. It wasn’t a trophy day, but it blended progress, clarity and a team-driver connection that felt genuine. Hamilton, adored by a grandstand that doesn’t hand out affection cheaply, sounded more comfortable inside the weekend than his early-season radio would’ve suggested. He left Italy with points, momentum, and an honest audit of what’s still missing.
There’s work ahead — on ride heights, on balance, on making the car meet the driver halfway instead of the other way around. But if you squinted past the penalty and the P6, you could see the outlines of something more durable. Not a breakthrough yet. A baseline. And for Ferrari and Hamilton in year one together, at Monza of all places, that counts.
