Lewis Hamilton has admitted the pressure is on as he prepares to make his debut as a Ferrari driver at the team’s home race in the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, having unceremoniously crashed out of the Dutch GP on Sunday after an unforced error.
The seven-time world champion suffered an unusual exit at Zandvoort as he went wide on the painted surface outside turn three, made slippery by light rain. He lost the rear and could not hold the car, which slid into the barriers, ending his race.
It was far from the fresh start after the summer break the British driver had hoped for after he has endured a difficult debut year with Ferrari. The car has been off the pace and adapting to a new team has proved difficult for Hamilton, as he admitted after his exit at Zandvoort.
“There’s obviously a huge amount of pressure on us as a team, more so for me now,” he said. “I haven’t had a good season. Next week, we’ll just try to absorb all the energy from the fans.”
He did maintain that he remained confident and felt the weekend in the Netherlands had been a step forward for him and the team after he had been left disenchanted after a series of poor results before F1’s summer break.
“I’m fine, I feel fine mentally, I’ve felt lots of positives,” he said. “I felt I was making progress, I was catching the car ahead. It’s tough to have a result like that but I’ve been racing for so long I’ve had God knows how many races and you can probably count on one hand that sort of incident.”
However, he already faces a setback for Monza, with a five-place grid penalty for the race imposed for failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags on his reconnaissance lap to the grid before Sunday’s race.
The Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, maintained his driver was still feeling optimistic. “We discussed after the race – he was much more positive than the last four or five events,” Vasseur said. “For sure, he lost the car but the mood was positive, because I think he can take a lot of positives from the weekend and build up the confidence for Monza.”
A difficult weekend for Ferrari, who are in a tight fight with Mercedes for second place in the championship – the Italian team are just 12 points ahead of third – was compounded when Charles Leclerc clashed with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, and the Monegasque driver spun into the barriers, ending his race. Antonelli had been going up the inside as Leclerc was on the racing line when they clipped wheels on lap 53 and as a result the Italian was given a 10-second penalty.
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Hamilton had said before the weekend he wanted to start to try to enjoy driving for Ferrari after a trying time and all the scrutiny around his move to the Scuderia. Vasseur insisted that he felt his team was on course to potentially bring a smile to the driver’s face.
“To enjoy it, it’s largely a matter of results, confidence, pace and the fact that you are in the game,” he said on Sunday. “I think, honestly, today is why Lewis had the perception that today was much better, even if the outcome is not.”
After the race in Zandvoort, the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, also confirmed George Russell would remain with the team for 2026, alongside Antonelli, although the British driver’s contract has yet to be signed. “I always say there’s not going to be any big news because we’re doing this. We’re continuing with both of them, of course,” he said.
With Red Bull’s Max Verstappen having already confirmed he would remain with the team for 2026, there was little doubt Mercedes would stick with Russell, though the final details of his contract and its length remain to be confirmed.
