'The roar for Lewis Hamilton was louder than for Charles Leclerc': F1 pundit highlights surprising Tifosi reaction

F1 expert Natalie Pinkham revealed that the Tiforsi roared for Ferrari racer Lewis Hamilton louder than his teammate Charles Leclerc during the FP1 session at the 2025 Italian Grand Prix. The seven-time F1 world champion has been enjoying adulation from the Italian fans this week as the Maranello-based outfit prepares for the annual race at the iconic Monza circuit.

Since his announcement to join the Italy based team in 2024, Hamilton and Italian fans have been waiting for this moment, as two of the biggest entities in Formula 1 have come together.

After showing presence at the Ferrari event in Milan, Lewis Hamilton was greeted by a roar from the Tifosi when he came out onto the track in the FP1 session. During the Sky F1 show after the FP 2 session, Pinkham said that she felt that the British race received a bigger reception than Leclerc, saying:

"Actually, the roar for Lewis was louder than for Charles. I'm gonna whisper that so he doesn't hear me. But that was an absolutely incredible response from the Italian fans to Lewis Hamilton,"

Charles Leclerc has been a prodigy of the Italian side since he joined in 2019, but has been overshadowed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton's popularity and fanfare since the latter arrived in early 2025.

F1 pundit believes Ferrari is 'missing Carlos Sainz'

While Carlos Sainz has shared his thoughts on Ferrari's SF-25, the 1997 F1 world Champion, Jacques Villeneuve (now an F1 pundit), belived that the Italian team was missing its former racer.

Villeneuve gave a strange take during the Dutch Grand Prix race weekend:

"Maybe they're missing Carlos Sainz at Ferrari. Ultimately, we're seeing who was working on the team. And we kept saying, every time Carlos joins a team, the team goes up, every time he leaves it, that team goes down. And that happened again. Williams has been going up, Ferrari has been going down."

Sainz has been competing at the top level of motorsports since 2015. Over the years, he has represented teams like Toro Rosso (Racing Bulls), Renault (Alpine), McLaren, Ferrari, and the Williams F1 (current) team.

It is going to be fascinating to see how fruitful Sainz's sting with Williams will eventually pan out. The 2025 F1 has not gone in Sainz's way, as after 15 races, he is in 17th place in the drivers' standings with 16 points. Sainz's teammate Alex Albon is in eighth with 64 points.