Ferrari changed the way it deployed electrical energy for the Italian Grand Prix in an attempt to maximise speed on Monza’s main straight, but the strategy did not deliver the expected result. The SF-26 was exceptionally fast through the speed trap, yet found itself short of energy elsewhere around the circuit, leaving Lewis Hamilton vulnerable to attack and forcing him to demand more from his tyres through the corners.
The consequences extended beyond a disappointing home result. Ferrari effectively dropped out of the Formula 1 title fight in front of the Tifosi, while Hamilton’s efforts to compensate for the car’s straight-line weakness contributed to overheating of the rear tyres. Monza was supposed to revive Maranello’s championship ambitions; instead, it exposed the scale of the performance deficit Ferrari still has to overcome.
Ferrari’s Monza result deals a major blow to its championship hopes
Monza extinguished Ferrari’s remaining title dream and instead placed Kimi Antonelli firmly in the spotlight. At just 20 years old, the young Italian continues to write chapters that could one day take on legendary significance.
Lewis Hamilton dropped to third place in the Drivers’ Championship, 76 points behind Kimi Antonelli, while George Russell extended his advantage over the seven-time Formula 1 world champion to 10 points.
The situation is equally difficult in the Constructors’ Championship. Mercedes increased its advantage over Ferrari to 122 points, while McLaren has continued to close what once appeared to be an enormous gap and is now only 59 points behind the Scuderia. At Maranello, it therefore seems more realistic to be concerned about McLaren’s recovery than to think about challenging Mercedes for the title.
Monza has consequently stripped away some of Ferrari’s remaining excuses. But has the team really fallen to the position of Formula 1’s fourth-fastest force? The result on track was clear, although it is legitimate to question whether the performance seen from the SF-26 at the Temple of Speed represented its true ceiling or whether, once again, execution errors contributed to the outcome.
Charles Leclerc certainly made the situation more complicated. He first forced Lewis Hamilton into the gravel at the exit of the first chicane before crashing heavily into the barriers on the outside of Parabolica after losing the Ferrari over a bump around a drainage channel at approximately 230 km/h, in a repeat of the 2024 crash at the same spot. Ferrari later had to assess the condition of Charles Leclerc’s ADUO 2 power unit after the Monza accident.
Ferrari’s Monza pace deficit was already clear early in the race
Even before Charles Leclerc’s retirement, however, it had quickly become apparent that Ferrari did not have the pace required to join a fight that, by lap 13, was already shaping up as an exclusively Mercedes contest. To borrow the Vasco Rossi reference, only the Star was shining while everyone else was left behind.
Lewis Hamilton did not take long to complain about Ferrari’s chronic lack of speed, including in sections where the SF-26 had not appeared to suffer such a severe disadvantage during free practice and qualifying. The problem reflected the broader SF-26 power and straight-line speed deficit at Monza that became increasingly costly over a race distance.
“We knew that we would have a huge deficit in terms of top speed and that is how it turned out and, in fact, in the race it was perhaps even a little worse than expected: we were losing positions without being able to respond and we were forced to ask a huge amount of the tyres in the corners, wearing them out before the others.”
Frédéric Vasseur’s assessment offered a stark snapshot of Ferrari’s situation. The obvious question was therefore what had happened to a car that had been only around a tenth and a half behind the Mercedes W17 on Saturday before ending Sunday down in sixth place.
Ferrari changed SF-26 energy deployment for the race
The answer can be found in the numbers and in the decisions made behind the scenes. Ferrari’s engineers took a gamble by changing the points around the lap at which the car released its electrical energy, repeatedly reshaping a deployment plan that evolved each time the SF-26 went onto the circuit.
On Friday, Ferrari had initially focused its energy use on the long section from the Ascari chicane to Parabolica. In that part of the lap, the SF-26 recovered almost all the time it had previously lost to the black-and-silver Mercedes cars. That approach was part of a wider effort to optimise the package, which also included changes to the SF-26 FTM aimed at reducing drag and improving efficiency.
For the race, however, Ferrari changed its approach. The SF-26 was remarkably quick on the start-finish straight: Lewis Hamilton reached 341 km/h compared with Kimi Antonelli’s 323 km/h, an 18 km/h advantage at the speed trap.
That number did not tell the full story. Away from the main straight, Ferrari effectively ran out of breath and paid a heavy price against the Mercedes W17. By concentrating its energy deployment differently, the SF-26 gained impressive maximum speed in one area but was left more exposed at other crucial points around Monza.
Hamilton forced to attack the corners as Ferrari loses out on the straights
The result was that Ferrari was beaten not only by Mercedes but also by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Without enough speed to compete on equal terms, Lewis Hamilton had to push harder through the corners. He was stronger through the Roggia chicane, both Lesmo corners and Ascari, but those gains were insufficient to keep him attached to the rear of the Mercedes cars once the enormous straights and the speed carried through Parabolica came into play.
The contrast was particularly striking given the Ferrari ADUO 2 data gathered after Monza qualifying, when the deficit over a single lap had appeared more manageable. Sunday exposed just how much more difficult the situation became when Ferrari had to combine energy deployment, tyre management and race-long efficiency.
Lewis Hamilton’s rear tyres overheat as he tries to compensate
Lewis Hamilton eventually began struggling with overheating rear tyres because of how aggressively he had to use them in an attempt to compensate for Ferrari’s power deficit. The seven-time world champion could be seen pushing hard for one lap before having to back off and try to bring the tyres back into their correct operating window.
Hamilton repeatedly asked over team radio for a tyre change, but Ferrari did not respond to those requests. The pit wall was concerned enough about the cars behind that it feared bringing Hamilton in could leave him exposed to a comeback from Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda.
“It was a tough day for Ferrari,” Frédéric Vasseur added. “In qualifying, things had gone well for us in terms of positions, but we knew that we had a huge deficit when it came to top speed and that it would be difficult in the race to defend and attack. And that is how it turned out.”
Ferrari ADUO 2 brings more power but Mercedes gap remains
The power unit remains one of Ferrari’s biggest obstacles. The debut of the 067/6 equipped with ADUO 2 was particularly unforgiving because it came at a circuit where differences between power units cannot easily be masked by chassis and aerodynamic qualities.
The additional horsepower is there. That was particularly noticeable at Haas because Oliver Bearman had the upgraded Ferrari specification while Esteban Ocon did not. However, the gap to the Mercedes six-cylinder power unit remains substantial – too substantial. There is still talk of a difference of around 20 horsepower.
Ferrari’s development has nevertheless produced a measurable gain, with the team also choosing to retain the SF-26 turbo dimensions while introducing the latest ADUO 2 step. At Monza, however, those improvements were not enough to eliminate the wider performance disadvantage.
The gap is such that Mercedes is in no hurry to introduce its own M17 E Performance with ADUO. For the Brackley team, the standard specification is already proving more than sufficient to inflict a painful defeat on Ferrari.
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