Ferrari arrives at the 2026 Formula 1 Italian GP under pressure from the debate about a possible preference between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. After the Dutch round in Zandvoort, the decision not to use team orders divided opinions between Luigi Mazzola and Timo Glock.
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Former Ferrari engineer between 1988 and 2009 and a member of the team during the Michael Schumacher era, Mazzola defended the stance adopted by the team. To Sky Italia, he stated that Hamilton is 59 points behind the championship leader, Antonelli, tied with Russell, and that there is still no reason to establish a hierarchy.
According to Mazzola, any choice could harm the other driver and “kill” their battle. For him, as long as Hamilton is not really in the fight for the Drivers’ Championship, favoring one of the two would be a mistake.
However, Glock assessed that Ferrari missed an opportunity in Zandvoort. “There is always a but with Ferrari,” he told Sky Deutschland. “This time, it was the execution of the perfect strategy that they failed to carry out.”
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The former driver specifically criticized the time Leclerc stayed ahead of Hamilton. “Ferrari gave a lesson on how not to do things with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Leclerc held Hamilton for two or three laps longer than he should have. If they had let Lewis pass earlier, they might even have finished ahead of Kimi Antonelli.”
Glock also argued that Ferrari is already thinking about the title fight. “If you want to have a say in the World Championship, then you have to try to put Hamilton in a position where he loses as few points as possible to Antonelli or, in the best case, gains points,” he argued.
