Lewis Hamilton Calls Monza Result ‘Devastating’ as Ferrari’s Home Race Falls Apart at Turn 2

• Lewis Hamilton finished sixth in the Italian Grand Prix after running wide in the gravel exiting Turn 2 on the opening lap.
• Hamilton called the result “a bit devastating” and said Ferrari “probably chose the wrong tyre” at the restart.
• Team mate Charles Leclerc crashed out on lap two after his own fight with Hamilton through the first two corners.

Watch every race of the 2026 season live on Apple TV

A Ferrari Home Race That Fell Apart by Turn 2

Lewis Hamilton admits that finishing sixth in the Italian Grand Prix is a “tough one to swallow,” as Ferrari endured a difficult home race at Monza.

The Tifosi had high hopes ahead of Sunday’s 53-lap race, with Hamilton starting fourth and directly behind Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc. The race came apart for him almost as soon as the lights went out.

Off Track by the Second Corner

Hamilton moved up the inside of Leclerc at Turn 1, only to find himself in the gravel on the exit of Turn 2, which dropped the seven-time World Champion to the fringes of the top 10. He suggested over the radio that he had been pushed off.

“Well I ended up P10 or something. There’s not really much to say. We’ll take it offline,” Hamilton said when asked what impact the moment had on his race.

Leclerc’s Side of the Battle

Leclerc’s own race came to an end at the final corner on lap two, the Monegasque driver suffering an over correction before hitting the barrier hard, which brought out a red flag. On the incident with Hamilton, Leclerc said: “With Lewis it was a way too close into Turn 1 and unfortunately in Turn 2, I don’t know if we had contact or whatsoever. I was quite a lot on the inside curve and tried to make the corner, which I didn’t do it tight enough, and then I obviously only saw in the mirrors what happened which is never what you want between two cars, between two cars of the same team.”

A Costly Tyre Call at the Restart

At the restart, Hamilton started on the medium tyre and battled Oscar Piastri’s McLaren for fourth place. Unlike other drivers on the medium walled Pirelli tyre, he did not pit under a mid-race Virtual Safety Car. It meant he lost further positions to the recovering Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris before reaching the chequered flag a distant sixth.

“A bit devastating. Tough one to swallow. Lost a lot of points and ultimately couldn’t keep a Mercedes engine behind. They were just out and out quicker,” Hamilton said.

“I think we probably chose the wrong tyre. Whether that really would have made much difference, maybe we would have been able to hold onto them a bit longer but they just kept flying past us. They were just quicker today.”

Where the Championship Stands

Sixth place at Monza leaves Hamilton 76 points behind championship leader Antonelli, who won from 19th on the grid to claim his seventh victory of the season. Ferrari’s home weekend ended without a point scored by either of its two title-chasing drivers inside the top three.

Want more F1Chronicle.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for the best F1 news and analysis on the internet.

More F1 Reading

• Charles Leclerc Breaks Down His Heartbreaking Monza Exit and the ‘Way Too Close’ Clash With Hamilton
• Lando Norris Says Piastri Battle Was ‘Fair’ as McLaren Salvage Fourth and Fifth at Monza
• Majestic Monza 1-2 For Mercedes
• Pierre Gasly Takes Shock Monza Pole

Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

More articles by Jack Renn →