Tifosi swarm Monza gates amid Ferrari fever as Lewis Hamilton attends first Italian GP in red

The 2025 Italian Grand Prix at the famous Monza circuit has been witness to an extraordinary display of love from the passionate Tifosi towards the Ferrari team. Lewis Hamilton makes his Temple of Speed debut in red, and alongside the popular Charles Leclerc, the fervour surrounding the Scuderia has reached the next level. 

The Italian Grand Prix is one of Ferrari’s most important races on the calendar. Performing in front of the Tifosi – one of the most passionate fanbases of Formula 1 – makes this almost sacred, albeit high-pressure. Monza has been part of the championship since the start, making it one of just two races (alongside Silverstone’s British Grand Prix) to survive the test of time.

But the arrival of Hamilton has created a new wave of excitement, with oceans of Tifosi wanting to see the seven-time champion in red from Monday at Ferrari’s factory. 

“Yesterday was such a unique experience,” Hamilton said. “I think from yesterday morning, I got to Maranello and when you walk in and then you see the Ferrari logo, I mean, I still have to pinch myself.

“It’s really, it’s so unique. There’s people outside at the factory always. I’ve never seen fans outside of a factory before in any of my years and you see that every single time. There’s just such a positive, there’s clearly just so much love for this brand and for what it means to people.

“To be in Milan, in the heart of it all yesterday and seeing the fans and just how passionate they were, wow, it was intense but very, very positive. I really tried to harness all that good energy that they gave us.”

When asked about the possibility of a podium at Monza, the driver admitted he’d struggled to imagine the feeling of such a thing.

“I’ve seen how it’s been for other Ferrari drivers and anything I try to imagine, it’ll be far from it of what that feeling could be but always just coming here for anyone, no matter what team you drive for, it’s an incredible experience.

“Being in this park, being in this historic circuit and then seeing pretty much the whole Tifosi throughout the pitstraight but also when you do the parade lap, when you’re actually driving, the fans are very close so it feels like they’re right with you in the car.”

Team principal Fred Vasseur explained the unprecedented level of excitement surrounding the Italian outfit going into the weekend as his colleagues have been showered with support and even gifts.

“What is even more impressive that the Tifosi on track, because you can say that Tifosi on track, they are passionate. And they come to Monza to see the cars. So what is very impressive for me is to have fans every single morning at the factory and every single evening bringing some gifts for the team before Monza.

“Last year when we won the race, it’s a good one, the mechanics came back, it was 1 or 2am and we had still 1000 fans waiting for them, doing the Ola when every single mechanic was leaving the factory. And this, honestly, that you can’t find Tifosi and fans everywhere in the world, but this is something magic.”

Leclerc, a driver well-versed in managing the stress and excitement of Ferrari’s home race, prepared his team-mate for the onslaught.

“I definitely told Lewis that it’s quite a tiring week, but the good thing is that you don’t feel tired at all throughout the week. You just feel particularly tired on the Sunday night when everything is gone.

“But before that, there’s so much positive energy around us that you only take that as a positive, and you’re always super motivated to get back on track and to just live the moment. It’s just such a special weekend for us as Ferrari drivers, so I don’t feel tired at all for now.

“But I know that coming Sunday night, you don’t realise how tired you are until you actually finish the race. But it’s a nice feeling.”

After coming from Milan, where the team celebrated the 50th anniversary of Niki Lauda’s first championship win, the Monegasque allowed himself to be fully immersed in the moment.

“It definitely feels as special as the first time. I don’t think you’ll ever get used to it. I think as humans, we tend to forget very quickly what a particular feeling you get in a certain moment. You feel very special as a Ferrari driver wherever we go, because we have a lot of support.

“But whenever you come to Monza, it’s just different. Especially the fact that we have Milan very, very close. It’s one of the only races of the year where we do such a big event in a city centre. The amount of support we get here is just unbelievable. So it was extremely special.”

While there must be pressure from not only the Italian fans but also the Italian media, Vasseur adds that they transform that feeling into something positive. 

“Honestly, I’m taking just the positive and it’s not that I’m not a masochist, but we have to take it. Don’t smile. We have to take it like this because even when we had a tough journey during the season or the season before, the fans, they were always supportive, always positive with us.

“And this is a mega good feeling. We are speaking about confidence before and how to give confidence to the drivers. Trust me that when they are in front of the crowd in Milano and you have thousands and thousands of people pushing for the team, this is a mega huge push in terms of self-confidence.

“And I think we have to take it like this, that now I’m racing for 35 years and it doesn’t matter if it’s in F1 or in Formula Renault. I was already putting a lot of pressure on myself in Formula Renault. You know that it means that we have to be focused on ourselves to try to do our job. And the pressure, as you are calling it, I think for me, it’s more a positive one. And I’m taking it positively at least.”

Photos from Italian GP – Friday