F1 MATHS: Hamilton set new top speed record at Monza
Despite a five-place grid penalty carried over from Zandvoort, Ferrari's seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton did not lose his motivation at his first race at Monza as a Ferrari driver. The British driver completed a series of overtaking manoeuvres last Sunday, and he also set a new top speed record on his way to sixth place at the Italian Grand Prix.
Ferrari did not have the pace for compete for the podium last weekend in front of their passionate Tifosi, but both the trackside team and their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc extracted the absolute maximum of their SF-25.
The Monegasque was aggressive and brilliant on the opening lap, overtaking championship leader Oscar Piastri to move himself up into P3. However, the SF25 did not have the race pace that would have been enough to compete with the McLarens and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, and Piastri managed to pick off the Monegasque to regain third spot.
Leclerc was then challenged by the Mercedes of George Russell, but he had a better tyre management and he was therefore able to escape from the Briton, ending up fourth at Ferrari’s home race.
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton started from P10 as a result of his five-place grid penalty. The seven-time world champion had a sensational start to pick off Yuki Tsunoda and Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap.
The Briton did not wait for long before he slipped past Fernando Alonso and Gabriel Bortoleto. He then went on to hunt down his old team-mate George Russell, but he could not find a way past the Mercedes man, and had to be content with sixth.
This year's top speed record of 356 km/h was set at the Belgian Grand Prix. At last Sunday's Monza F1 round, Hamilton has exceeded this record by 9 km/h as he achieved 365km/h in the race. The Briton recorded 13040rpm in 8th gear while setting his eye-catching top speed of 365 km/h.
In fact, it was not only the highest speed ever recorded this season, but it was the highest top speed at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for any ground-effect car.
During the first season of the current technical era, Carlos Sainz recorded the highest top speed at Monza with 360 km/h, whilst Hamilton set the record the following year with 359 km/h. Last year's Italian Grand Prix saw Nico Hulkenberg achieve a top speed record of 363 km/h which was now eclipsed by the seven-time world champion by a further two km/h.
It was not fully surprising to see Hamilton set the highest top speed as Ferrari had elected to run an extremely low-downforce aerodynamic package. The Scuderia brought a slightly modified version of their 2024-spec rear wing which they used across the opening practice session.
However, the Italian outfit went a step further later on, trimming down the downforce and the drag between FP1 and FP2 to further boost Hamilton's recovery drive who had carried over a five-place grid penalty from the Dutch Grand Prix.
On the other hand, Pierre Gasly’s top speed was just 345km/h with DRS while the Frenchman only 334km/h without the activation of the drag reduction system, which highlighted one of Alpine's weaknesses this year.
Interestingly, Hamilton's record from the Monza might be beaten later on this season. Williams driver Alexander Albon reached 369km/h at last year's Las Vegas Grand Prix which means that the field might break the 370km/h barrier in Nevada.
