Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have blown glorious F1 title opportunity with spectacular Italian GP implosion

Good news for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc will start third and Lewis Hamilton fourth for at Sunday's Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix... yes that's the good news.

Why? Because Ferrari were incredibly fortunate to avoid a total catastrophe in qualifying at Monza.

Let's set the scene here, this is a massive weekend for Ferrari given they have a golden opportunity to close in on Kimi Antonelli in the world championship - who has a lead of 59 points over his Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Hamilton.

Antonelli has an engine penalty at Monza that puts him near the back of the field. His team boss Toto Wolff has already ruled out the possibility of the Italian getting a podium at his home race.

F1 HEADLINES: Antonelli penalty confirmed as F1 star 'almost certain' to miss Spanish GP

Ferrari's big chance

So this is open season for Ferrari, a chance to up the pressure on Mercedes by taking one-two on the grid for their home race.

Friday practice started off promising enough, even if Mercedes ended the day quickest. Ferrari were well in contention and had every hope of challenging in qualifying on Saturday. Those same hopes were still there after FP3.

Then qualifying happened, and for much of the time they were nowhere.

And by nowhere, we mean going as close as you possibly can get to being eliminated in Q2 and missing out on the pole position shootout on home ground in an act of utter humiliation.

Hamilton was just 0.001 seconds faster than Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto, sneaking him into 10thand the final spot for the qualifying shootout.

It wasn't a one off, Leclerc was only 0.007 seconds faster than Hamilton. Had Bortoleto not had to correct oversteer on the exit of Variante Ascari, or Liam Lawson not been blocked by Oscar Piastri at turn one then, Ferrari would be at starting the Italian GP in the middle of the pack.

In fact they only occupy the second row because Piastri got a three-place grid penalty for his block on Lawson, dropping him to sixth.

So for both Ferraris to end Saturday with only Pierre Gasly's Alpine and Russell's Mercedes in front of them must feel like hitting the jackpot.

Lewis Hamilton dumbfounded by lack of pace

But the truth is once again on Saturday, Ferrari have blown it when it comes to taking the imitative on an F1 weekend.

I mean listen to Lewis Hamilton, he wasn't exactly overjoyed about his Saturday.

He told Sky Sports: Yes, the car felt really good in practice, and then in the qualifying, I didn't change anything, so it felt good going into into Q1, and Q1 was solid.

"And then we sat, we waited very long in the pit lane for the first run of Q2. And for some reason, we just didn't have the pace. I'm not really sure why, whether it's tyre pressures, tyre temperature, or whatever.

"So we need to look into that. And then execution in Q3 was pretty bad. Obviously, I ended up out in the middle of nowhere with nobody, and then when you're following another car, you the brake you arrive faster, several kilometres faster into a corner, so the braking distances adjust."

All in all, just another poor day for Ferrari when the chips are down. This isn't the end of their chances of taking a 1-2 in Italy and putting the pressure on Antonelli and Mercedes of course but that's not the point.

Opportunity knocked at Monza on Saturday, and once again Ferrari have somehow found a way to drop the ball.

LEWIS HAMILTON: Career record with every pole, win and title

READ MORE: F1 World Champions: The full list from Farina to new king Lando Norris

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

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