F1 news: Four takeaways from Ferrari’s Monaco Grand Prix, a tale of mixed fortunes

Scuderia Ferrari arrived in the principality after a fairly successful Canadian Grand Prix, where a double finish in the top four included a P2 result for Lewis Hamilton.

Whilst Hamilton kept up momentum with another P2 on the podium, Charles Leclerc continued to have poor luck at his home Grand Prix, crashing out in the final corner of the safety car restart.

Here, Sports News Blitz writer and Ferrari fan Luca Salmasi takes a look at four key talking points from their sixth race of the season.

Domination in Friday practice

Ferrari led the way in Friday practice, achieving one-two finishes in both sessions, with Hamilton leading Leclerc by 0.111 seconds to end the day as the fastest.

Despite the team’s dominance, Leclerc struggled more than the other Ferrari and showed early signs of what was to come for the rest of the weekend.

After leading Hamilton in practice by more than 0.2 seconds, he had a recurrence of the braking problems that affected him in Canada.

A spoiled qualifying

Neither Ferrari driver felt comfortable in the crucial moments of qualifying as the team’s strong start to the weekend failed to translate into a pole position on Saturday.

Hamilton lacked confidence in the car at the start of qualifying, which threw off his rhythm throughout the session, whilst Leclerc was wrestling with his ongoing brake issues.

Leclerc aborted his first run in Q3 after running wide at Massenet, briefly went quickest with his best run, and was on a better second run that looked like the fastest lap until he tagged the wall near Tabac after oversteering mid-corner.

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Nightmare in Monaco

F1 drivers and their home races haven’t been the best combination this year, and now Leclerc’s homecoming this season slowly but surely spiralled out of control.

The issues started during qualifying, frustrating him and relegating him to a fourth-place start for the race.

Leclerc was then left furious with the team when they brought him in for a second pitstop under the safety car, questioning why he needed to be brought in and believing it was without a justifiable reason.

His afternoon would get much worse as he ploughed into the barriers at Rascasse during the safety car restart, with recurring brake issues and possibly the break up of the track playing a part in his early exit.

Back-to-back podium finishes

At the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton took home his third podium finish for the season and his second in a row.

Hamilton’s race really balanced on a piece of good luck when making a pitstop under the safety car triggered by Lance Stroll’s crash.

That meant he could serve a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane without the threat of losing his position to Leclerc.

With George Russell having a poor race, the result sees Hamilton move into second place in the Drivers’ Championship – his highest position since 2021.

After no podium finishes in Hamilton’s first season for Ferrari, he now has three podium finishes from six starts in 2026 and leads Leclerc in both qualifying and their race head-to-heads.

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