Lewis Hamilton ‘unbelievable’ trait theory emerges that might explain his slow start at Ferrari

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Ferrari’s fans made their feelings known to Lewis Hamilton as he took part in his first Italian Grand Prix as one of their own last weekend.

It’s not been the easiest start for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari after his long-awaited switch from Mercedes.

Hamilton has now started more Grand Prix for Ferrari than any other driver in the team’s history without scoring a podium.

His win in the Sprint Race in China is still his best result on the track, but his visit to the Italian Grand Prix with the support of hundreds of thousands of Tifosi might now be the highlight.

Nico Rosberg u-turned on his opinion on Hamilton after seeing how happy he was after Sunday’s race, initially believing the summer break hadn’t had the desired effect on the seven-time world champion’s outlook.

Hamilton was quick to thank Ferrari’s fans as he crossed the finish line at Monza, securing P6 after starting on the fifth row following his five-place grid penalty carried over from the Dutch Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion once again finished behind teammate Charles Leclerc at Monza, and he’s now 46 points behind the Monegasque driver in the drivers’ championship.

However, journalists Rebecca Clancy and Ben Hunt have come up with an interesting theory about Hamilton’s performance levels this season.

It was even demonstrated during the Italian Grand Prix weekend as he looked to fine-tune the SF-25 to his liking.

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Lewis Hamilton using ‘unbelievable’ feedback trait to improve at Ferrari ahead of the 2026 campaign

Clancy was speaking on the Inside the Piranha Club Podcast, and when talking about Hamilton in the build-up to Monza, she said: “I had a bit of a flashback to 2022 or 2023 when George Russell was comprehensively outperforming him.

“And we were kind of hearing these rumblings that Hamilton was being a bit of a guinea pig for Mercedes, and he was testing all this stuff out, and it wasn’t working and trialling different setups.

“And he was doing it as the more experienced driver and saying, I can just give you the best feedback. And that is something that we’ve heard about Hamilton throughout his career: he gives unbelievable feedback.

“So, there’s a part of me that sort of wonders slightly with Ferrari how much he’s trialling because he’s going to just turn around and say, look, I don’t know the team, I don’t know the car, I might as well just have a bit of a gamble here, there and everywhere.

“Charles Leclerc’s got it all set up for him and how he wants it; he knows the car better, so I might as well trial a few things. And also, he’s not looking at this season, right?

“He couldn’t care less if he gets a race win this year. Let’s be completely honest, all he cares about is that championship.

“He wants to string them all together and put in his eighth world championship.

“So for him, it’s all just a bit of an experiment this year, isn’t it?”

Hunt added: “He didn’t move for 2025 anyway, did he? He was always moving for 2026, and the new regulation changes he did before.”

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Lewis Hamilton was experimenting at the Italian Grand Prix before Sunday’s race

One of the constant themes throughout the 2025 F1 season has been Ferrari’s inability to run their car as close to the ground as they would like.

Leclerc looked on course to potentially win the Hungarian Grand Prix after starting on pole position, but his final pit stop saw Ferrari increase his tyre pressures to avoid potentially being disqualified for excessive plank wear, and the car’s performance nose-dived.

A report from Motorsport Italia has shared more details about the work Hamilton was doing behind the scenes at Monza to try and perfect his set-up ahead of Sunday’s race.

Hamilton started the weekend with a ‘more loaded aerodynamic setup’, only to follow Leclerc’s choices later in the event.

Both cars had to be raised, and they ditched their most ‘extreme’ wing, which impacted their one-lap pace.

Hamilton has been experimenting with different setups to Leclerc all season, in the hope of extracting a level of performance his teammate hasn’t found yet.

However, it might all have been done to give him the most information possible going into 2026 when he might have a much better shot at challenging for the championship.