Lewis Hamilton summoned by Ferrari to solve F1 weakness

F1 legend Lewis Hamilton has been summoned to Italy by Ferrari this week in hope of addressing an issue which has been hampering their performance so far this season.

The Maranello-based team currently sit second in the constructors' standings, yet still have a gap of 238 points to leaders McLaren.

In 2024, Ferrari missed out on their first championship victory of any kind since 2008, losing out on the title at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, finishing just 14 points behind their papaya rivals overall.

But all hope is not lost for the Scuderia's comeback during the second half of the 2025 season after a floor upgrade showed promising signs of improvement at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The new rear suspension was designed to assist the SF-25 with its ride-height issue which led to Hamilton's disqualification at the Chinese GP earlier this year.

Following that verdict in Shanghai, Ferrari were forced to run their car higher than was optimal, leading to further disappointment as their performance was affected.

But now, Hamilton has taken to Ferrari's testing track at Mugello to get to grips with the new rear suspension the team are developing, with hopes that it could be the change needed to finally bring the fight to McLaren and extend their lead over Mercedes.

Ferrari filming day provides vital testing chance

As the F1 calendar takes a mini break ahead of next weekend's Belgian GP, Ferrari have taken the opportunity to run a scheduled filming day at their testing circuit in Mugello.

Reserve drivers Zhou Guanyu and Antonio Giovinazzi took to the track earlier in the week as part of the team's testing of previous cars programme (TPC) but following that, both Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc tried their hand on the circuit.

In order to adhere to the rules of a filming day, Ferrari were restricted to only 200 km of running to test their new suspension, but the Scuderia will likely take every opportunity they can get in order to better understand their new and hopefully improved machinery ahead of the 13th round of the season.

Ferrari will use the data from both Hamilton and Leclerc's runs at the filming day to assess the new rear suspension ahead of next weekend, which presents the challenge of limited track time at Spa.

As the next round in Belgium is a sprint weekend, Ferrari and the other nine teams on the grid will only have 60 minutes of practice on Friday before their cars enter parc ferme ahead of sprint qualifying later that afternoon.

Therefore, any data they can analyse from this week's running in Mugello could be vital in determining whether they really can turn their season around thanks to the new suspension.

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