Lewis Hamilton demands urgent Ferrari upgrades after Imola Q2 shock, citing Red Bull and McLaren as benchmarks for top-tier performance.
Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari urgently needs to introduce game-changing upgrades, following the lead of Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren. He used Max Verstappen’s performance as a clear benchmark.
Both Hamilton and his teammate Charles Leclerc were eliminated in Q2 at Imola, a disappointing result for Ferrari at its home Grand Prix. The SF-25 simply lacked the pace to make it into Q3 on merit, much to the dismay of the tifosi.
Hamilton acknowledged that starting from 12th on the grid would make the race a challenge, especially with limited opportunities for overtaking due to the DRS train. However, he remains optimistic about Ferrari’s race pace.
“This isn’t the ideal circuit for racing. It’s great for a single flying lap, but once the race starts, you often get stuck in the DRS train and there won’t be much movement.”
“From a strategy perspective, we’ll try to make gains through well-timed pit stops. I do believe our race pace has potential.”
Hamilton was less critical of his brakes and overall car balance during Saturday’s qualifying compared to previous sessions.
“When everything is working well, I’m matching Charles’ times. I’ve never doubted that. We’ve made some progress this weekend, but we’re still not at the level we need to be.”
“We need upgrades and we need them quickly. Performance gains must start coming. Just look at the rear end of Max’s Red Bull, it’s stable and planted. He’s carrying 6 to 10 km/h more speed than us through Turn 2 and we simply can’t compete with that.”
“It’s the same story with McLaren. We have to keep pushing and applying pressure. I believe our team can unlock more performance.”
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