Hamilton flags Ferrari straight-line speed deficit

Lewis Hamilton has voiced concerns over Ferrari's straight-line speed deficit at Monza, even as the team introduces its second engine upgrade of the season for the Italian Grand Prix weekend. Despite the power unit enhancement, which is understood to deliver approximately 15 horsepower, Hamilton noted a significant performance gap on the straights during practice sessions. In Friday's practice, George Russell of Mercedes topped the timesheets, with Charles Leclerc second and Hamilton fifth. Hamilton reported losing around six tenths of a second to his teammate Russell solely on the straights, a disparity he described as "considerable to worry about." He suggested that the issue might stem from Ferrari's energy deployment strategy or aerodynamic drag, rather than the engine upgrade itself. "Straightline speed, it's considerable to worry about," Hamilton stated. "Just looking at the deltas just there, I was losing something like six tenths to George, just in the straights. Which is something we need to look into." He also mentioned the car was difficult to drive in FP2, prompting consideration of reverting setup changes.