Part One: Lewis Hamilton, Oliver Bearman and Pierre Gasly.
Lewis, please can we start with you. Home race for Ferrari. Just tell us how special it feels to be a Ferrari driver at Monza?
Lewis Hamilton: Good afternoon, everyone. Yeah. I mean, it's the best feeling to be a Ferrari driver. It's such an honour and a privilege to arrive in Italy at this iconic race with the most iconic and best team in the world. It's really phenomenal to experience it for the second year in a row, and it still feels new. So, it's not something you can get used to.
One thing that is new this weekend is the Schumacher-inspired livery. Can we get your thoughts on that and what Michael meant to you?
LH: I mean, I haven't actually seen the livery, but I'm wearing a shirt with seven stars, which is quite fitting because I have seven stars too. So, it feels alright. It feels like it's also mine. But, I mean, it's kind of crazy. Last year, we celebrated Niki, who was a dear friend, and Michael, for me, I grew up... I remember the happiest Sunday mornings when you heard the music, the old, better music that they used to use for the start of Formula One. Was it 'The Chain'? Yeah. So much better. And you could hear it downstairs starting and you knew, "Okay," you get all excited. You run downstairs and I just always remember seeing Michael in the red car. And I remember playing computer games and always being Michael in that Ferrari and always just trying to imagine what it would feel like to be in his shoes. And I have the privilege of having that experience now. But, I mean, he was such a leader. Obviously, did such an amazing job throughout his career. And again, I had the privilege of racing in a moment where he was still racing and being on track with him, which meant a lot.
In terms of performance, the power unit is getting an upgrade here. Will it be enough to fight for victory?
LH: Every little helps. And I think, you know, up until this point of the year, we've been losing, even in the last race on such a short circuit, we were losing four tenths a lap through the race. So that's a huge deficit and we've carried that through the year to this point. And what I can say is I'm just really, really proud of when I go back to the factory and I see how hard everyone is working, that they're really just heads down. Everyone's so enthusiastic. I see a different focus this year to last year. Last year, I felt like there wasn't really a North Star. We were kind of, I think, doing the best we could, but not really knowing where exactly we're trying to aim for. And now we have a North Star. We know we need to work towards. And I think they've done a tremendous job to really pull together and deliver. And this is a step forward. It's not the whole gap that we need, but we knew that would be the case. But to see bits coming each weekend, adding to the car, it's exciting to see that we are pushing and, you know, strongly still believe that we've got what it takes to win.
Ollie, if we could come to you now. While we're talking upgrades, Haas has brought a comprehensive list of upgrades here to Monza. So just how hopeful are you that they're going to reward you with a chunk of lap time?
Oliver Bearman: Yeah. Hello, everybody. We are very much hoping that we have a bit more performance this weekend. It's been a good few races now that we've kind of been left behind by our competition. You know, it's been a while that we've brought a big upgrade to the car, and so we have a lot of hopes set on this one. Yeah, it seems like a big one, and all of the team are quite confident. Of course, in Monza, it's maybe not the best place to bring upgrades necessarily because you don't see the full effect of the benefit, of course, with this track, which is a much more drag-sensitive one than maybe last week was. But, you know, nonetheless, it's been a long time coming. The team have worked incredibly hard and, you know, we have a lot of challenges that we face. Being a small team, one of them is the turnaround times of our upgrades, and you've seen that. You know, the last big one that we brought was in Canada, which is a long way back. So, yeah, hopefully it's going to be a good weekend for us.
Have you had a chance to run the upgrades on the simulator?
OB: Yeah. Running on the sim, it felt good, but I'm always quite sceptical based on the simulator. You know, we don't have sim drivers or anything like that. So, you know, I'm not fully convinced about the correlation of our simulator. So, I'll reserve judgement until we run with it on track.
The European season has been a frustrating one for you and the team. Just how much do you hope to claw back in the second half of the season? Do you believe you can do what you did last year?
OB: Yeah. I mean, last year, the second half was very strong, but it was also as a result of upgrading when maybe others weren't. But, you know, that didn't necessarily hurt us at the start of this year. So, I have full faith in this team. They've done excellent things in the past, and really we're just trying to give all of the staff the resource and the ability to, you know, unlock their full potential. And that's what Ayao has been working incredibly hard to do. I'm sure we'll get there. And, you know, this upgrade is a big step for us. And hopefully, like you said, it can reward us with some points. That will be the goal.
Pierre, let's come to you now. You live in Milan. So, in a way, does this feel like something of a home race for you?
Pierre Gasly: Yeah. I mean, it's for sure, you know, a great feeling to wake up in your own bed before going to the track, enjoying your home coffee, and it's just a different feeling. So, it's sort of a home race. Obviously, you know, having Flavio as well in the team, Monza is special. Having my first win around here always makes it special, you know, entering the racetrack, the paddock, and having a special energy about it.
We've been talking to Lewis and Ollie about upgrades. The team brought a lot on your car last time out at Zandvoort. Just how hopeful are you this weekend?
PG: Yeah. It was a good step forward in Zandvoort, finishing eighth in the Sprint and tenth on Sunday. I think it was tricky to really make the best of it being on the Sprint weekend. But I think we've learned a lot, and I'm feeling more comfortable in the car, more potential. I do feel, you know, before the summer, we dropped behind the top 10 and didn't have the potential to fight for points. And now we're back up there. So, yeah, excited and looking forward to this weekend.
And there's been some news from the team since the last race. Franco Colapinto is going to stay with the team for 2027. Just can we get your thoughts on racing alongside him for another season?
PG: Yeah, I'm happy for Franco. I think we're working well together with the team, you know, the way we're pushing the team forward. The dynamic, I think he's learned a lot over, you know, the last two years in Formula 1. And I'm happy for him. And hopefully we can, you know, continue bringing points to the team and deliver the best performance.
Questions From The Floor
(David Croft - Sky Sports F1) A question for you, Lewis. You touched on the celebration of Michael Schumacher's time with Ferrari. What inspiration have you taken from what Michael did with the Scuderia? And how have you used that to give your input to the team? And what have you done behind the scenes to help the team from, as you say, a lack of focus 12 months ago, or a lack of a North Star focus?
LH: Well, I mean, I haven't taken a page out of Michael's book in that sense. I think, obviously, I wasn't here in the team when, obviously, there was a big narrative of Michael turning the team around. But ultimately, it's a combination of many, many people. And there's no "I" in team. I think it's like a huge ship and it's the driver's job to work alongside the head figures to try and steer it in the right direction. I think the positive thing, the opportunistic thing for a new driver coming in with experience, who has experienced two different teams, when you come from outside, when you're in it, it's sometimes hard to see the wood for the trees, you know. And it's when someone comes in, even if new engineers come in from different places, straight away they say, "Oh, we did this differently," and not necessarily that's a better way, but it's just sometimes different approaches. It's quite phenomenal, really, if you think that all these teams have the same rules. They do everything differently to get to the same sort of... and then the cars on track are within a tenth. You know, it's quite phenomenal, and that's really what makes our sport so great. I think, for me, I pushed for a lot of changes within the car, which last year we couldn't do, one, because of [Cost] Cap, two, because it's what they've done all the time and it's like, "Why should we change it?" So, it took a lot of persuading to get some of those changes done. And then some of them were expensive and they took a longer process. So, I worked in the sim and requested that they design it for the sim, and I tested in the sim last year, and then they added it as options for the car that we use every weekend. And, yeah, so just kind of the whole goal was, coming from an outside perspective, looking at all the things they do well - and nobody does everything perfect - highlighting the things that are maybe good or not as good and saying, "Hey, we need to level up in all these areas." And that's what I try to do. I think Fred even said there were some things on the list that he just can't do because it's too expensive. But I'm grateful for the ones that he has allowed to happen, and I feel proud to see the progress that we've made.
sign in