F1 LIVE: Lewis Hamilton orders issued at Ferrari as teams reach huge agreement
F1 LIVE: Lewis Hamilton orders issued at Ferrari as teams reach huge agreement
Round 13 of the 2026 Formula 1 season heads to Monza this weekend. First practice takes place this morning, with second practice following this afternoon before qualifying starts at 3pm tomorrow.
The race itself starts at 2pm on Sunday, with McLaren‘s Lando Norris looking to take his second win in a row, although Mercedes‘ Kimi Antonelli still leads the drivers’ championship.
And ahead of Sunday’s race, Charles Leclerc has revealed that Lewis Hamilton has “priority” over where to place his car in the queue this weekend.
While Hamilton has vowed to race into uncharted territory and become the first black driver to win the Italian Grand Prix in a Ferrari.
And F1 grands prix are set to become shorter for the 2027 season, with teams reportedly having unanimously backed a proposal to reduce the standard race distance from 305km to approximately 290km.
Why Isack Hadjar isn’t racing
Just in case you missed it earlier this week, Isack Hadjar’s ongoing wrist injury has ruled him out of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
A Red Bull statement confirmed: “Liam Lawson will drive alongside Max Verstappen at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, while Isack continues to make encouraging progress following the wrist injury sustained during the summer break.
“The team is closely monitoring his rehabilitation and will take no unnecessary risks with his return to competition and wishes him a speedy recovery.”
Yuki Tsunoda, who was left without a drive for this year following his Red Bull exit at the end of last season, will again sit in for Lawson in the Racing Bull car having finished 11th on his return at Zandvoort.
F1 teams agree plan to reduce distances
F1 Grand Prixs are set to become shorter for the 2027 Formula 1 season.
It is being widely reported that teams have unanimously backed a proposal to reduce the standard race distance from 305km to approximately 290km.
Monaco would be unaffected by the change, but most races would move roughly from three laps to two.
It is claimed that the reason behind the decision to shorten races stems from a knock-on effect of technical adjustments being made to the 2027 regulations.
Lewis Hamilton makes fresh vow
Lewis Hamilton has vowed to race into uncharted territory and become the first black driver to win the Italian Grand Prix in a Ferrari.
He said: “Coming into this weekend, I’ve really being thinking about the sheer magnitude of this grand prix.
“Firstly, I didn’t know that I was equal with Michael (Schumacher) for wins at Monza, and then there’s the thought of a ‘first’ ahead of me in the sense of potentially winning at Monza for Ferrari and going into new territory. That would be phenomenal.
“If I did do that, I will be the only black driver to have ever done that for Ferrari in Italy, and possibly in history, too. So, a lot of those thoughts have been going through my mind.
“The pressure’s high. I want to deliver for the team. There are all the people at the factory – many of them come to this race – and then there is the Tifosi, who come out in huge numbers, and their passion is unmatched, and you want to deliver for them.
“And my mum’s also here this weekend. She hasn’t been to Monza before, and I wanted her to experience that, particularly now I am at Ferrari, and bring me some lucky dust.”
