Ferrari has offered a rare look behind the scenes of its 2026 filming day at Monza, showing how Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc shared the SF-26 while an extensive production team captured promotional footage around the famous Italian circuit. The new video reveals far more than the cars simply completing laps, explaining how drivers, mechanics, engineers and camera crews coordinate during one of Formula 1’s tightly organised filming sessions.
Hamilton and Leclerc completed the Monza running in April, taking turns behind the wheel of the same Ferrari. The session formed part of a season in which the Maranello team has used Monza and Madrid for filming-day activities, with the Italian outing also previously attracting considerable attention because both race drivers were involved with the SF-26.
Ferrari reveals how its Monza filming day actually works
Unlike a normal Grand Prix weekend, the priority during a filming day is producing promotional material rather than chasing outright lap time. Ferrari’s behind-the-scenes footage demonstrates how carefully each run is prepared to ensure the photographers and video crews capture the images they need.
Only one Formula 1 car is used on track, meaning the mechanics have to adapt the cockpit when Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc swap driving duties. Leclerc explained that the seat position is adjusted between their respective runs so both drivers can use the same SF-26 comfortably.
The mechanics’ work is only one element of the operation. Drones fly above the circuit while professional photographers and videographers work from multiple locations around the track. Camera operators can also travel in a road car running ahead of the Formula 1 machine, creating the close, dynamic footage commonly used in Ferrari’s promotional films.
Hamilton and Leclerc receive precise instructions for each shot
The drivers are not simply released onto the circuit and told to complete laps. Engineers communicate detailed instructions concerning speed and positioning so that the SF-26 arrives at specific sections of the track in exactly the way required by the production team.
That creates a very different challenge from conventional racing or testing. Hamilton and Leclerc must adapt their driving to the needs of each sequence, coordinating their pace and movements with the cameras rather than concentrating solely on extracting maximum performance from the car.
The April session had already provided Ferrari with an opportunity to run both race drivers at the Temple of Speed, with Leclerc and Hamilton sharing the permitted mileage during the SF-26 filming day at Monza. Contemporary coverage also detailed how the pair alternated in the car during the session.
One Ferrari SF-26, two drivers and a completely different Monza
The contrast with a Formula 1 race weekend was particularly striking. Monza is normally transformed by huge crowds when Ferrari arrives for the Italian Grand Prix, with grandstands and spectator areas filled by supporters throughout the weekend. During the filming day, however, the circuit itself was virtually empty.
That atmosphere immediately caught Lewis Hamilton’s attention. The seven-time world champion acknowledged that he had never previously seen Monza so deserted and felt that the venue was not the same without the fans who normally define its Formula 1 atmosphere.
For Hamilton, who now experiences the Italian Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver, the difference between the closed filming session and a race weekend is particularly pronounced. Monza remains one of the most important venues on the Scuderia’s calendar, and the team is also preparing technical developments for its next competitive visit, including reliability work connected with Ferrari’s planned Monza engine upgrade.
Ferrari’s video shows the production work fans rarely see
The footage provides an unusual perspective on a Formula 1 activity that supporters generally experience only through the finished photographs and promotional clips. Every sequence requires cooperation between the drivers, mechanics, engineers and production personnel, from changing the cockpit configuration to positioning cameras and controlling the speed of the car.
Ferrari’s Monza running had previously been documented primarily from the performance and technical perspective, including comparisons of Hamilton and Leclerc during their SF-26 track time. The latest behind-the-scenes material instead shifts the emphasis towards what happens around those laps and how the polished footage ultimately released to supporters is produced.
For Leclerc and Hamilton, it was therefore a day behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car with a very different objective from a Grand Prix. And for Hamilton in particular, seeing the Temple of Speed without the crowds provided an unusual reminder of just how much the supporters contribute to the character of Monza when Formula 1 returns for the Italian Grand Prix.
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