Ferrari fans have been left disillusioned by Lewis Hamilton’s dismal first season at Formula One’s biggest team, which has failed to live up to the hype.
The Scuderia’s massive local support will descend on Monza this weekend in hope rather than expectation that Hamilton and his teammate Charles Leclerc can give them something to shout about in the face of overwhelming McLaren dominance. Red was predictably the dominant colour around the circuit on Friday (Sep 5), with Ferrari fans discussing their beloved team’s chances of adding to this year’s paltry four podium finishes — none of which have been claimed by seven-time F1 champion Hamilton — and no GP wins.
“I was always a fan of Hamilton as a driver, and we all hoped when he arrived that he would win his eighth world title with Ferrari; it would have been really romantic,” says Luca Spagnoli, 19, to AFP. “We’ll see for next year, but this season is basically done.”
Hamilton is 200 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri and trails Leclerc by 42, having only finished ahead of the Monegasque twice all year.
“I’m disappointed because he’s not performed as well as we hoped he would when he arrived, because we all thought that Hamilton would be ahead of Leclerc, but instead Leclerc has been ahead of him in almost every race,” adds Spagnoli.
Hamilton, who started the Monza weekend with the fastest time in Friday’s first practice, crashed out of last weekend’s Dutch GP and suggested Ferrari replace him during the Hungarian GP before the summer break.
‘Emotional rollercoaster’
The 40-year-old has since shown renewed enthusiasm to be a Ferrari driver, saying on Thursday (Sep 4) that he still needed to pinch himself when returning to Italy and seeing the support for the team. Hamilton described his first year in red as an “emotional rollercoaster”, and Sunday’s race will offer similar thrills with drivers at full throttle 80 per cent of the time at the so-called “Temple of Speed”.
So far, Hamilton’s best result has been winning the Sprint race at the China GP, scant reward for supporters who were delighted by his headline move to Ferrari after 12 years at Mercedes.
“I was excited,” recalled Anna Rinaldi, 41. “I was in a work meeting in Milan and I stopped the meeting, told everyone that this is a day for history, for Italy. It is a very important day in history.
“I really hope that they’re focusing on next year, and I hope they have something good to show for it. But my expectations are low because I’ve been a Ferrari fan for, I don’t know, 40 years… the Schumacher years were good, but other than that it’s been very hard.”
Hamilton’s task at Monza has been made harder by a five-place grid penalty for failing to slow down in a yellow flag zone on his way to the grid at the Dutch GP.