Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari): “I don’t drive unfairly in races”

At Ferrari’s home race in Monza, the two Scuderia cars weren’t even on the track together for two full laps – yet those few shared kilometres provided plenty to talk about. Immediately after the start, there was a much-discussed manoeuvre between the two Ferrari drivers.

Hamilton wants to discuss it ‘offline’

The incident immediately after the start between Hamilton (starting from 4th on the grid) and Leclerc (starting from 3rd) was one of the main talking points following an eventful race. Leclerc said that ‘we’ – meaning both Ferrari drivers – had gone too far in Turn 2. When asked about it, Hamilton simply said: ‘I was ahead at the apex of Turn 2. So it wasn’t “we”.’ And he made it clear: ‘We’ll discuss this offline.’

Hamilton: “It was bad for the team and set us back in terms of positions.” He was down to tenth place afterwards. The seven-time world champion said: “I tried to fight back and make up ground after that. Then we had to stop. It was a bad start.” Following his team-mate Leclerc’s crash on lap 2, the race was interrupted by a red flag for just over half an hour. The race restarted on lap 6.

“I don’t drive unfairly”

Hamilton made it clear: “I don’t drive unfairly. I’ve always driven cleanly and fairly and have always left space, so I don’t think they should be worried about me. I joined the team and tried to respect the position and under no circumstances put the team at risk. I stand by that, and that’s all I can say on my part.”

At the restart, Hamilton went into the race in fourth place and quickly overtook Pierre Gasly in the Alpine to move into third. But Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli was already closing in from behind and overtook Hamilton at the Curva Grande on lap 12.

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Hamilton was impressed by his former team’s engine performance: “We knew they’d be fast on the straights, but it was truly breathtaking just how fast they were on the straights. They just kept pulling away, pulling away, pulling away.”