Lewis Hamilton has called on Ferrari to put their full weight behind his Formula One world championship challenge, warning that his chances are fading as the season progresses. Speaking after qualifying fifth for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the seven-time champion admitted the gap to championship leader Kimi Antonelli is becoming harder to close.
Hamilton trails by 59 points with 11 races remaining
Hamilton sits 59 points behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who leads the drivers' standings, with 11 races left on the calendar. His Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc qualified one place ahead in fourth and is 87 points off the lead. Asked whether Ferrari should now prioritise his campaign as their best title hope, Hamilton said the team must remain focused and hungry.
"Yeah, there's light at the end of the tunnel, but it's getting dimmer the further we get through," Hamilton said. "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."
Qualifying struggles and team strategy questioned
Hamilton came close to elimination during Q2, struggling for pace and questioning Ferrari's decision-making on track. The team attempted to give both drivers a tow on the high-speed Monza circuit, where slipstreaming is crucial for a quick lap. Hamilton admitted he was puzzled by the lack of speed in the second qualifying segment.
"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. "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."
Gasly takes shock pole, Russell poses threat
Alpine's Pierre Gasly claimed a remarkable pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, with Mercedes' George Russell second. Russell is level with Hamilton on points, both 59 behind Antonelli, who starts from 20th after an engine-change grid penalty. With Mercedes showing strong race pace, Hamilton stressed the importance of Ferrari working together.
"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 from third and fourth respectively on Sunday after McLaren's Oscar Piastri received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson during qualifying.
