Lewis Hamilton was impressed with Mercedes’ speed on the straights during the Italian Grand Prix of Formula 1. The Ferrari driver described the advantage provided by the rival team’s power unit as ‘unbelievable’.
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The weekend in Monza was tough for Hamilton, who hoped to put Ferrari in contention for the top positions in front of the Italian fans. After losing positions right on the first lap, in a tough battle with his teammate Charles Leclerc at the first corner, the Brit had to make a recovery race and finished only sixth, matching his worst result of the season.
Hamilton assessed that the Ferrari car behaved satisfactorily in the corners, but the situation changed on the straights: “I was in the fight, doing well, the grip seemed good and the car was, overall, decent in the corners,” he said, before highlighting the main difficulty.
“On the straights, we knew the Mercedes cars were fast. But it was really unbelievable how fast they were on the straights with Mercedes power. That thing just keeps pulling, pulling, pulling,” Hamilton added.
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Mercedes’ strength was also evident in the race result, with Kimi Antonelli moving from 19th on the starting grid to win. The Italian driver had a strong pace in the early laps and was also benefited by a stop during the virtual safety car period.
Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, explained why the same strategy was not available for Hamilton: “The pace was huge, and besides that, Kimi also had the ability to stop because he had the top speed to overtake and recover positions,” he said. According to Vasseur, in Hamilton’s case, a stop during the last virtual safety car period would have left him behind Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, making it uncertain to recover those positions.
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