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Sep 8, 2026, 10:30 AM CUT

Lewis Hamilton makes his demands clear to Ferrari after losing 'some ground' to Mercedes 

Lewis Hamilton isn't holding back on what he expects from Ferrari after a Monza weekend that left him further behind in the title race. As he watched Mercedes tighten their grip on the championship, his message to the team was pointed and left little room for interpretation. 

During the Italian Grand Prix on September 6th, a first-lap clash with Leclerc sent Hamilton into the gravel, though he fought back to finish sixth. Ferrari's costly weekend also saw the team slip 122 points behind Mercedes in the constructors' standings, further tightening the Silver Arrows' hold on the title fight. 

While speaking to the media post-race, Hamilton did not mince his words as he expressed his frustration with the team. 

"I think from today, we've just lost so much ground to them [Mercedes] on points," he told the media, as per the reports shared by Motorsports.com. It's far too late for those decisions to come. It's many, many weeks too late."

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The seven-time champion went a step further, making clear he wants to see actual change in how Ferrari operates going forward.

"There's only so much you can say, so much you can push and shout from the mountaintop. Yesterday, I said we've got to look at how we communicate. If we continue to travel the same path, we get the same result."

He further added that he plans to address the issue with the team. 

"We keep getting the same result. We've got to change things because it's not helping us move forward. I think they're receptive to it, and we'll take it offline over the next, probably not next week, but particularly after the next race, to try and look at how we can procedurally make things different so that the same thing can't happen."

With Ferrari now well adrift of Mercedes in both championships, Hamilton's comments suggest patience is wearing thin, and Monza wasn't an isolated incident. 

Lewis Hamilton's frustrations aren't new

It's not the first time this season Hamilton has questioned Ferrari's execution, having voiced similar frustration after the Dutch Grand Prix. 

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth at Zandvoort after losing several seconds stuck behind teammate Charles Leclerc, a delay he believed cost him a shot at the podium. 

Post-race, while talking to the media, he did not hold back about how he felt about the incident. 

"But today was definitely frustrating for me. I'm here to win and I really believe that this team can win," Hamilton said post-race, per GPFans.com.  

He went on to point to the bigger picture.

"We couldn't win this race, but to win championships you have to pick up every point, and the last few races have been difficult with penalties and stuff, and then, today, I lost several seconds behind Charles, which I think ultimately would have made the difference at the end. But we will take it offline." 

A few weeks later, that same frustration resurfaced, suggesting Ferrari has yet to fix the issue Lewis Hamilton first flagged at Zandvoort. 

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco