Seat grills Hamilton & Russell during Formula 1 training in Monza

Lewis Hamilton had the best time on Friday at the Formula 1 in Monza. On a day when things were really close – only three thousandths separated Hamilton from his closest rival Lando Norris. While things were in chaos on the other side of the garage, Hamilton only had one real problem. Admittedly, it’s a strange one.

Very early in the second practice session, Hamilton began complaining on the radio about a hot seat. Any small error can happen in this area when preparing the car. But when George Russell, who missed the first third for repairs due to an accident involving junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, got involved, he soon reported the same problem.

“You were grilled like crazy in our car!” Hamilton later describes it. “I don’t really know why. Maybe there’s hot air leaking out from somewhere down below where the cooler ones are. It was really hot. Like you’re sitting in a sauna without any shorts on. Painful.”

Hamilton-Mercedes fast from the start in Monza

Despite the pain, Hamilton ended up leading the very close group in Monza in the qualifying simulations with a time of 1:20.738. “In general, it felt pretty good,” said Hamilton. “Right from the start. In FP1 we had a lot of graining, everyone was struggling with the tires, including us.”

But so far, Mercedes has followed the setup changes well in response to the new asphalt in Monza, which is developing rapidly with increasing rubber abrasion. “The car was even better in this session,” praised Hamilton. “But we still have work to do in the long run. At the moment it is difficult to get through the distance.”

Mercedes is not the only one to have the graining problem at the Italian GP on Friday. All teams are struggling with it. But it will definitely be a decisive factor. “The work tonight in the simulator will be very important,” warned Hamilton. “We have to be careful with the setup so that we don’t change the car too much, as we have done in the past.”

Crash & next underbody test: Mercedes lacks data in Monza

Hamilton is aware that he and Mercedes have often overcorrected in their setup work for 2024. The warning in Monza is certainly well-founded: Due to Antonelli’s accident, which has already been mentioned, the team has collected very little data.

On top of that, experiments with the underbody update introduced in Spa continued. After being disappointed with it in Zandvoort, they will be absolutely sure that it really wasn’t the underbody that was to blame. “We were on the old parts in FP2,” confirmed Russell. “Lewis had the new stuff, which worked as expected.” On the one hand, this is good for the update, but on the other hand it means that Hamilton’s two practice sessions are the only data points for the night-time setup work.

Coupled with the uncertainty of the new track, Mercedes is not taking anything for granted for the rest of the weekend. “The car seems to be working well, but there is not much difference between the top teams,” warns chief engineer Andrew Shovlin. Even a small mistake can prove costly in the fight for pole and victory.