Lewis Hamilton backs claims Charles Leclerc races him harder than F1 rivals

Lewis Hamilton maintains Ferrari needs further talks to iron out its rules of engagement, backing claims Charles Leclerc races him harder than drivers from rival teams.

Hamilton and Leclerc came to blows on lap one of last weekend’s race in Mexico with both drivers going off the track at Turn 4, which eventually handed Max Verstappen a golden opportunity to snatch away the win and costing Ferrari a possible 1-2 victory, instead the duo finishing second and fourth.

Hamilton was incensed by how hard Leclerc raced on the opening lap, only for the Monegasque to permanently stay ahead as he cut the track at Turn 4. Leclerc only received a five-second penalty for gaining a lasting advantage, with mitigation bringing that punishment down from 10 seconds.

Their Mexico fight further fed suggestions that Leclerc appears to race his teammate harder than anyone else, having come after a Singapore Grand Prix in which Leclerc backed off at the start despite being fully on the inside of polesitter Max Verstappen. Leclerc did race the Dutchman hard at the subsequent US Grand Prix in Austin, however, overtaking the Red Bull man around the outside of COTA’s Esses.

When asked if the idea of Leclerc racing him harder than other drivers is something Hamilton has also noticed, the seven-time world champion replied: “Yes. I see what you see. In Singapore, he was fully on the inside into Turn 1, he had won the lead, and he backed off. It was definitely different.

“But I mean, if you look at the team-mates, it was the same with Sebastian [Vettel]. It was the same with Carlos [Sainz].

Photo by: Colin McMaster / LAT Images via Getty Images

As emotions ran high, Hamilton demanded talks to clarify the team’s rules of engagement and warned of “big problems” for the squad. Motorsport.com understands team principal Fred Vasseur has spoken briefly to both drivers, albeit separately, after feeling the events of Mexico showed a lack of respect towards the team’s 2000 people staff.

But with Vasseur having travelled back to Europe in between races and Leclerc spending time with his family following the birth of his daughter, Hamilton says further talks are still needed.
 
“Naturally I was frustrated, and I’m still frustrated,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com if he views the events of Mexico in a different light now they have had time to cool off. “So, conversations need to be had. We will have those when the time permits.

“We had an opportunity to win for the team. The team has done such an amazing job in bringing upgrades this year and I think they’ve done an incredible job. We’ve scored more points than any other team in the last three or four races. We could have easily had a one-two, so we definitely have to work towards making sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Hamilton drew criticism, too, for openly lobbying for his team-mate to get a bigger penalty than the five seconds he was held at his pitstop, as cutting the track handed Leclerc a much bigger advantage than that on a circuit where overtaking proved extremely difficult.
 
But the 41-year-old said he “will not be silenced”. “I don’t really care how everyone feels about what I’ve said. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and I say how I feel in the moment,” he said.

“I did see something that someone was saying that the things that I’m saying are calculated, and I just want to combat that with the fact that when you’re in the race, your heart rate is like 170. You’re driving 200 miles an hour. You don’t have time to be calculated in what you’re saying and thinking about what the media are going to write about, you don’t think about that.

“Of course, there’s some times you say things and maybe you might regret it afterwards, but I don’t, and I’m never going to apologise for being authentic and real. I’m not gonna be silenced. I’ve never ever been silenced. I have not been asked to not say anything [by the team], and that’s just the way it is.”

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– The Motorsport.com Team