Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took the top two spots in FP1 as Ferrari brought their ADUO power unit upgrade to the 2026 F1 Italian GP. Mercedes caught up in FP2, however, with Leclerc in between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, and Hamilton in 5th. Team principal Fred Vasseur was guardedly optimistic speaking after the practice sessions.
“I think from session to session we are all using different levels of fuel, different engine modes, and it’s very difficult to read, even for us. We just have to be focused on ourselves and try to get the best. We have a kind of convergence of the approach for FP3, but let’s see. It’s still a long way until Sunday.“
On Monza’s straights, straight-line speed still an issue for Ferrari
Hamilton noted that, at their famously fast home track of Monza, “straight line speed, it’s considerable to worry about. Just looking at the deltas just there, I was losing something like 6 tenths to George, just in the straights, which is something we need to look into.
“The engine is an improvement, which I’m really grateful for the guys back at the factory for working on. But our deployment schedule is different to the others, our competitors. But yeah, it seems like they maybe have less drag for the straights, so that’s something we need to definitely look at.“
Vasseur echoed Hamilton’s observation that, as raw speed goes, a power unit upgrade isn’t going to solve everything on its own.
“You have to keep in mind that performance in the straight line, it’s the drag, it’s the weight of the car, it’s everything. It’s not just the engine. We did a step for sure and we didn’t bring ADUO 2 for nothing, but I think we still have a decent gap.“
A dip for Ferrari from F1 Italian GP FP1 to FP2
Hamilton also noted that the balance was off throughout, which the team tried to remedy in FP2 to no avail.
“It was really really hard to pull the lap out of the car. It was not an easy one to drive in P2 for some reason. So we made a couple of changes, but it shouldn’t have really been bad. So we might revert, but we’re going to look and see if we can make the car better.“
After the sessions Charles Leclerc acknowledged their difficulties but was optimistic overall.
“There’s still some work ahead of us as our competitors look strong, but so far, the feeling with the car was solid. We know our weaknesses and we will focus on those, giving everything to bring home the best result on Sunday.“
“The tow is everything here” at Monza
For Saturday, the expectation is for plenty of slipstreaming to maximize speeds in qualifying. Hamilton put the strategy simply: “The tow is everything here.”
This expectation and strategy was echoed by Vasseur.
“We have two cars. It’s an advantage, and I want to use the two cars to have two cars on the first rows.“
He also noted that, if that doesn’t pan out, the slipstream can work just as well on race day.
“Now if we have one car starting from the back, for sure you use it for the two, like Hadjar did for Max in Spa. It’s a clever move, but I prefer to have two cars in front.“
