That Q2 pace had the red garage dreaming of a lockout, but the final pole shootout brought a sudden and bitter reality check. As Motorsport.com Italia reports, both Ferrari machines lost ground once the field switched to soft compound rubber in the decisive session, leaving Charles Leclerc down in sixth and Lewis Hamilton settling for third on the grid.
While Leclerc tried a two-run plan with a cooling lap in between, Hamilton rolled the dice on a single, do-or-die run at the very end of the session. It was a gamble that ultimately backfired, though Hamilton flatly refused to pass the buck. "Sembrava andare tutto bene in Q1 e Q2, poi abbiamo seguito un programma di lavoro leggermente diverso rispetto agli altri. È stata una mia scelta e credo che abbiamo sbagliato," Hamilton confessed after climbing out of the cockpit, taking full ownership of the strategy even if Max Verstappen managed to secure pole with a single run of his own.
Con le gomme medie la macchina andava bene. Con le soft, invece, era molto diversa. C'era tanto grip, ma soltanto all'anteriore e niente al posteriore.
The problems ran much deeper than timing, however. While the medium tyres had felt cooperative earlier in the evening, the softs transformed the car's balance into something entirely wild. Hamilton reported a vicious, unexpected oversteer that left the rear end sliding through every corner and completely stripped him of traction when he needed it most.
To make matters worse, right as the single flying lap began through the opening three corners, his race engineer hopped on the radio to instruct him to stay ahead of the trailing cars—a timely distraction that clearly left the British driver unimpressed. That radio call aside, the fundamental issue was a machine that was heavily front-pointed and entirely loose at the back, bleeding crucial time in the second sector and right through the final corner setup.
"Non so se le gomme posteriori non fossero ancora nella giusta finestra di temperatura oppure se si fossero surriscaldate," Hamilton mused, pointing to the mystery of tyre preparation. "Con le gomme medie la macchina andava bene. Con le soft, invece, era molto diversa. C'era tanto grip, ma soltanto all'anteriore e niente al posteriore." A stunning reversal from Q1 and Q2, leaving a driver of his caliber searching for answers after the rear grip simply vanished into thin air.
