Hamilton fifth in free practice
Friday for Lewis Hamilton in Monza ended with a fifth place, 457 thousandths behind the day’s leader George Russell (Mercedes) and over three tenths behind teammate Charles Leclerc – who finished second.
In interviews given to journalists after FP2 Hamilton seemed not so satisfied with the performance of his SF-26, equipped with the power unit with the ADUO update.
Read more Ferrari invents again on energy: with the new engine it is a challenge to Mercedes
Straight line alarm
“Straight line speed is no small problem,” said Lewis Hamilton with some emphasis, explaining: “Just look at the telemetry, I was losing something like 6 tenths compared to George (Russell, ed.) only on the straights. We have to work on this aspect. And then there is also the setup: it was really very difficult to get the best time from the car. For some reason in FP2 it was not easy to drive it. We made a couple of changes, but…”.
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Hamilton and the team will look for the best setup for the Ferrari in Monza: “We might go back, but we will evaluate if it will be possible to improve the car. We have to check what causes this lack in the straight line, if maybe it is related to the deployment. The engine however is an improvement and I am grateful for the work done by the guys in the factory. Our rivals perhaps have less aerodynamic drag on the straights, we will examine it”. Conclusion on the slipstream in qualifying: “It will be fundamental and we will try to exploit it.”
