Ferrari Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has hit out at a lack of rules within the team, following an Italian Grand Prix compromised by an early incident with team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Moments after the start, Leclerc responded to a Hamilton divebomb into Variante del Rettifilo by trying to keep position through the second part of the corner and crowding Hamilton out into the gravel on exit, which dropped the #44 car well down the order.
It weighed heavily on Hamilton’s mind at the conclusion of the red flag-disrupted race (the flag triggered by Leclerc’s lap-two crash), as he trundled home in sixth, struggling on used mediums after not taking a ‘free’ virtual safety car pitstop that both Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen were able to make ahead of him.
It would have been marginal for Hamilton – the VSC was lifted only a few seconds after Antonelli and Verstappen headed out of the pits – but it may have been possible (and Ferrari could have also simply fitted the harder tyre for Hamilton during the red flag).
Leclerc had suggested a joint responsibility for what happened at Turn 1, even seemingly placing most of the blame on Hamilton. In response to his claim that “we went too far”, Hamilton offered a sharp rebuke: “I was ahead in Turn 2. By the apex, I was ahead. So there was no ‘we’ in it.”
He also alluded to a dissatisfaction with his team-mate’s approach to racing with his answer to the question of whether Ferrari fans should fear a team-mate feud.
“Look, you know, I don’t race dirty,” he said. “I’ve always raced clean and fairly and always left space. So I don’t think they should be worried about me.
“I’ve come into the team and tried to be respectful of space – and definitely not put the team in jeopardy. I stand by that and that’s all I can talk about, on my side. You have to speak to Fred [Vasseur] about the other side.”
Lack of oversight?
Hamilton spoke to the written press for an unusually long time in the aftermath of the race, though pushed back when asked whether there was a cultural issue at play at Ferrari.
“I know what you guys are trying to do! I don’t want to get into arguing and fighting about my team,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m trying my hardest to make this team and help this team get to where it needs to be.
“We didn’t do so well today. It’s painful enough as it is, to be badgering my guys. They go home to their families. They’re working really, really hard. Yes, we didn’t get it right today. It isn’t good enough. But we’ll go back to the drawing table.”
However, before that he very clearly expressed a dissatisfaction with the wheel-to-wheel racing not being reined in – and again, as he had done after the Dutch GP and after Saturday’s qualifying, indicated that not enough weight had been thrown behind his title campaign.
“It’s far too late for that, for those decisions to come. It’s many, many weeks too late. So, all I can do is just try and turn up,” he mused.
There were operational problems for Hamilton through this weekend independent of Leclerc – though he was also pointedly unhappy with Leclerc’s side of the garage on Saturday over a Q2 run plan that hindered his own.
Asked by The Race about Ferrari losing points operationally, he said: “Ultimately it comes from the top. It trickles down decisions – and so, it starts with Fred.
“There’s only so much you can say, so much you can push and shout from the mountaintop. Yesterday [Saturday] I said we’ve got to look at just how we communicate because if we continue to travel the same path, we get the same result.
“It’s like, we keep getting the same result. We’ve got to change things because this is not helping us move forwards. I think they’re receptive to it and we’ll take it offline over the next…probably not for next week, but particularly after next race to try and look how we can procedurally do things different so the same thing can’t keep happening.”
And when it came to prioritising his title charge, he said it wasn’t about moving Leclerc over but just avoiding situations like what transpired at the first chicane.
“I think it comes down to rules of engagement. When I was at Mercedes, we had a written rule of engagement. We never really, really had too bad. There was a moment maybe with me and Nico [Rosberg] a couple of times. But more often than not it was good, I mean, [especially with] Valtteri [Bottas]…
“Here there are no rules.”
Vasseur’s response
At the time of his written media session, Vasseur said he had not yet talked through the start incident with Leclerc – and just for “two seconds” with Hamilton. “I prefer to discuss with them first than with you first,” he insisted when asked for his view.
On the no-stop under VSC, he said: “We had the same gap with Max before and after the VSC.” This is in reference to the fact Hamilton trailed Verstappen by around six-to-seven seconds when Lance Stroll’s hydraulic failure brought out the VSC, and ended up 10 seconds back from Verstappen at the finish.
“But in our case, if you pit you are behind [Yuki] Tsunoda and [Pierre] Gasly, I’m not sure that you are able to overtake them,” Vasseur added, though at first glance it appears 100% certain Hamilton would’ve cleared the Racing Bulls, and also extremely likely he would’ve got back past Gasly.
As for whether the championship picture was raised with the drivers pre-race, Vasseur said: “To see if we have a team order or whatever, I think that the good comparison that I made was that last year, [Oscar] Piastri was leading [for] McLaren at this stage of the season. And if McLaren put everything on Piastri, Max Verstappen would have been champion.
“But for sure, at one stage, you have to take a decision. But I think it was too early to take a decision before Monza. Now we have time to discuss with the guys.”
Hamilton trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 76 points, with Leclerc 112 off Antonelli – and a maximum total of 258 available over the rest of the season.