Ferrari row: Hamilton is furious, Leclerc hits back: “Hamilton was borderline”

Lewis Hamilton is clearly trying to keep his cool, but even during the turbulent Mexican Grand Prix he had growled over the radio: “We’ve got big problems, really big, big problems.”

The problem has a name: Charles Leclerc. Put simply, the Ferrari drivers were at loggerheads after the start of the Mexican Grand Prix to such an extent that Lewis Hamilton fell prey to Max Verstappen and dropped from pole to P3. Leclerc made himself comfortable at the front.

Hamilton says: “We had the pace today to win this Grand Prix, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Now we need to see what we can do better behind the scenes.”

“We’d agreed in the drivers’ briefing with all the drivers and the FIA: if you’re off the track in the first corner, you have to give the position back.”

“A year ago, I received a 10-second penalty here for a similar manoeuvre; now Charles has been given 5 seconds.”

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“That cost us the win, no doubt about it. We need to have a very serious chat.”

The penalty for Leclerc meant that Verstappen returned to the track ahead of the Monegasque driver after his tyre change; Max then didn’t let even a pressing Hamilton dislodge him from the lead. Hamilton’s argument holds water.

What does Leclerc have to say about the whole mess? The nine-time Grand Prix winner explains: “I mean, there was definitely an opportunity there. In Turn 1 there was a gap on the outside, and I had quite a lot of speed on the outside of Turn 1, and there was very little room for Turn 2. That’s to be expected when we’re battling for the lead.”

“And then Lewis and I both tried to brake very late. Neither of us made it through the corner. I obviously cut the track, and then Max got in the way after Turn 5, which made the situation more confusing.”

“We’ll obviously have to talk about it. I don’t know if Lewis was very unhappy with what I did, because I felt that what he did was also very borderline.”

Leclerc tries (unsuccessfully) to smooth things over: “I reckon he was perhaps more annoyed by the whole situation – how the situation with my penalty was handled. So that’s something we’ll definitely be talking about.”

“But ultimately, the fact is this: we’re fighting for the win, and naturally there’s very little room for manoeuvre for either of us. At the end of the day, we both made a mistake. But it’s not as if we made physical contact or anything like that.”

Hamilton had demanded over the radio that Leclerc give up the position. Charles commented: “I didn’t get any clear feedback on that from the team. It was just confusing, with Max behind me, to give up the position. I was expecting a penalty, and that’s exactly what happened.”

“There are written rules, and that’s part of the difficulty – the rules simply can’t be applied so easily to every situation. In some scenarios you win, in others you lose.”

“We simply need circuits that don’t allow us to deal with such boundaries and grey areas any better, otherwise it gets a bit tricky. I’m sure a lot of people will view this very negatively now, which I understand, but that’s just the way it is.”