Hamilton blames Leclerc and Ferrari after crash as team-order tensions grow

Lewis Hamilton had little patience for diplomacy after his clash with Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. While Leclerc said there had been no room and that the team needed to avoid such situations, Hamilton placed responsibility elsewhere.

“I was ahead at the apex of Turn 2,” Hamilton said. “There is nothing we should be doing differently. I do not use dirty tactics.” He also criticized Ferrari for failing to make a decision about team leadership weeks earlier, arguing that he should be the team’s lead driver because he is closer to Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in the championship standings than Leclerc is.

Hamilton pointed to his Mercedes years as a model, saying the team had a written agreement governing how its drivers raced each other. “At Mercedes, there was a written agreement about how we raced each other on track, and the situation was not very bad, perhaps apart from a few moments between Nico Rosberg and me,” he said. “Here, there are no rules.”

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I was ahead at the apex of Turn 2. There is nothing we should be doing differently. I do not use dirty tactics.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said the incident would be discussed internally, but resisted the idea of making an early commitment. He noted that Oscar Piastri led the championship at the same point last year, and argued that if McLaren had backed Piastri over Norris then, Max Verstappen would have become world champion. Vasseur said the team might eventually face a difficult decision.

Hamilton trails Antonelli by 76 points, while he leads Leclerc by 36. Leclerc remains faster in qualifying, 8-5, and the article attributes the points gap to his retirements rather than Hamilton being faster. The source says Hamilton’s title chances appear only marginally more realistic than Leclerc’s.

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At Mercedes, there was a written agreement about how we raced each other on track, and the situation was not very bad, perhaps apart from a few moments between Nico Rosberg and me. Here, there are no rules.