Lewis Hamilton completed his afternoon running behind the wheel of the SF-26 during Ferrari’s filming day at Monza. Here is the total number of laps completed, and whether the seven-time world champion managed to go faster than Charles Leclerc.
The Maranello-based team entrusted the afternoon session of the filming day to Lewis Hamilton after Charles Leclerc had already completed his allocated 100 km during the morning at Monza. Ferrari covered a significant number of laps overall, but the key question remains: did the British champion manage to improve on the lap times set by his teammate? Here are all the details.
There was tremendous enthusiasm from the Tifosi, many of whom climbed onto fences and vantage points around the circuit in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the Ferrari driven by both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. The Monegasque driver completed 19 laps at the wheel of the SF-26, wrapping up his on-track programme at around 1:00 PM. The numerous updates introduced on the car require careful and detailed validation, which will be followed by an extensive simulator session scheduled for tomorrow to better understand data correlation and analyze the information gathered throughout the day. In the afternoon, car number 44 also managed to set some quicker laps than his teammate, as the data suggests.
Hamilton faster than Leclerc at Monza, 39 laps completed in total
After approximately one hour of break for lunch, the Ferrari returned to action at around 14:08 local time. Lewis Hamilton was able to complete several laps at high speed, pushing the SF-26 on the iconic Monza circuit. While Charles Leclerc’s best recorded lap time was a 1:27.1, the seven-time world champion managed to go even quicker. Of course, this remains a positive indication, although the exact run plans and fuel loads are not publicly known. His fastest laps included the following times: 1:28.740, 1:28.485, 1:26.585, 1:27.193, and 1:26.986. This means that Hamilton managed to dip into the mid 1:26 range.
In the video above, it is possible to observe a moment in which the camera car runs ahead of the SF-26 to capture on-track footage. It is worth noting that some Ferrari employees, along with their families, were invited to attend the filming day at Monza. After a 43-minute stoppage (as reported by Fulvio Vigilante), the reason for which remains unknown, and with the lap count having reached 15 at that point, Lewis Hamilton returned to the track to complete the final kilometres available to him. He ultimately reached a total of 20 laps, bringing the day’s programme to a close. Overall, Ferrari completed 39 laps during the filming day.
