Lewis Hamilton shares thoughts about possibility of becoming first black Ferrari driver to win in Italy ahead of Italian GP

The seven-time world champion has enjoyed a much improved second campaign in red, with a maiden Grand Prix victory for the team in Barcelona in June helping to keep him in title contention, as he trails Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli by 59 points with 11 rounds remaining.

Hamilton's hopes of claiming victory in Monza have been boosted by the fact Antonelli will start from the back of the grid as he serves a penalty for exceeding his engine-part allowance.

Asked what a prospective 107th career Grand Prix win would mean to him, Hamilton said: "I've really thought coming into this weekend, as I pondered, just thinking of the sheer magnitude of the concept that I'm coming to this Grand Prix, I didn't even know that I had I was equal with Michael [Schumacher] on [five Monza] wins, for example.

"But the thought that there's a first ahead of me, in the sense that potentially, if I was to win, you go into new territory.

"Winning in Monza for the first time with Ferrari is something I've witnessed Charles [Leclerc] win in 2019, when I was on the podium with him. But to do it while I'm here would be phenomenal.

"And the thought of if I did do that, probably I would be the only black driver to ever do that for Ferrari in Italy probably in history, maybe, and so just like a lot of those thoughts have been through my mind.

"The pressure is high. You also want to deliver for the team. There's all those people at the factory, many of them will get to come to this race, the Tifosi, who come in huge numbers and the passion is unmatched, and you want to deliver for them as well.

"And my mum's here this weekend because I don't think she's been to Monza, but also particularly on a Ferrari weekend. I wanted her to experience that and you know bring any of the lucky dust she can bring."

Engine upgrade won't recover 'whole gap'

Hamilton's hopes of victory should be boosted by the arrival of Ferrari's second engine upgrade of the season.

The team confirmed on Wednesday that they have taken up the second of two opportunities they've been granted to improve their engine during their 2026 campaign.

Perhaps Ferrari's biggest weakness this season has been having a weaker power unit than Mercedes, who also supply McLaren with their engines.

Hamilton said: "Every little helps, and I think up until this point of the year we've been losing, even in the last race on such a short circuit we were losing four tenths a lap through the race. That's a huge deficit and we've carried that through the year to this point.

"What I can say is I'm really proud when I go back to the factory and see how hard everyone is working. They're really just heads down, and everyone's so enthusiastic.

"I see a different focus this year to last year. Last year, I felt like there wasn't really a north star. We were doing the best we could, but not really knowing exactly what we were trying to aim for. Now we have a north star, and we know where we need to work towards.

"I think they've done a tremendous job to really pull together and deliver. This is a step forward, it's not the whole gap that we need but we knew that would be the case.

"But to see bits coming each weekend, adding to the car, it's exciting to see that we are pushing and I strongly still believe that we've got what it takes to win."

Friday September 4 7.30am: F3 Practice 8.55am: F2 Practice 11am: Italian Grand Prix Practice One (session starts at 11.30pm)* 12.55pm: F3 Qualifying 1.50pm: F2 Qualifying 2.35pm: Italian Grand Prix Practice Two (session starts at 3pm) 4.15pm: The F1 Show 5.20pm: Team Bosses' Press Conference

Saturday September 5 8.25am: F3 Sprint 11.15am: Italian Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 11:30am) 1.10pm: F2 Sprint 2.15pm: Italian Grand Prix Qualifying build-up 3pm: ITALIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING* 5pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Sunday September 6 7.10am: F3 Feature Race 8.40am: F2 Feature Race 10.40am: Porsche Supercup Race 12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Italian GP build-up 2pm: THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX 4pm: Chequered Flag: Italian GP reaction 5pm: Ted's Notebook

Formula 1 is at Monza for Ferrari's home race at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime