Marco Rossi · F1 Correspondent
A first-lap incident in Mexico City has exposed just how strained the relationship between the two Ferrari drivers really is.
At the Mexico City Grand Prix, the two Ferrari teammates were already involved in an incident on the opening lap: Charles Leclerc cut Turn 4 in the fight for the lead and rejoined ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who also went off the track. The stewards handed Leclerc a five-second time penalty, and Max Verstappen took the win in the end. Hamilton's reaction afterwards was unusually open and angry. He criticised his teammate's approach and called for serious talks behind the scenes at Ferrari.
The first-lap incident
Hamilton had started from pole and was leading when Leclerc attacked around the outside of Turn 4 on the opening lap. According to the stewards, both Ferraris carried too much speed into the corner and both left the track, without making contact. Leclerc cut the corner and rejoined in the lead, while Hamilton also lost a place to Verstappen as he came back on. Hamilton saw it differently and got on the radio: “Just got pushed off by my teammate.”
The stewards ruled that Leclerc had gained an unfair advantage by passing off the track. They reduced the usual ten-second penalty to five because Hamilton had also gone off. Leclerc served it at his pit stop, Verstappen got past him there and drove on to victory, Hamilton finished second and Leclerc fourth. For Ferrari it was a sporting problem at first: two of your own drivers getting in each other's way costs points that were meant to be taken off the opposition. That it turned into an open dispute within a few hours made the incident far more than a footnote to the result.
Hamilton's undisguised criticism
Hamilton left no doubt about how much the move annoyed him. As early as lap 24 he said on the radio that Leclerc should simply have given the place back. During the red flag after Valtteri Bottas' crash he went further: “We've got big problems. Big, big problems.” After the race he said it was not a question of age but of mentality, and that Ferrari had no clear rules for battles between its own drivers. For a driver of his stature, that is remarkably pointed language about his own teammate.
He made his demand perfectly clear: “I think we have to have some serious talks behind the scenes, for sure,” adding that something had to change. Leclerc briefly defended his approach, saying he will always attack when a win is at stake. Team principal Frédéric Vasseur spoke of a lack of respect and reminded both drivers that they work for the team, not for themselves. He plans to talk to both of them before the São Paulo Grand Prix. The question of how two equal top drivers should treat each other in critical race situations is now officially on the table.
What it means for Ferrari
For the Scuderia, the timing could hardly be worse. A team with two drivers of the calibre of Hamilton and Leclerc has a responsibility to manage them so that their rivalry helps the team rather than hurting it. A conflict fought out in public is likely to achieve the exact opposite, especially as both are still fighting for second place in the drivers' championship: Hamilton is on 259 points, just two behind Verstappen, with Leclerc not far back on 245.
For Hamilton himself, the incident is another chapter in a career that has hardly missed an extreme: seven world titles, a first Ferrari season in which a sprint win in China was the only success, and his first Grand Prix win in red in Barcelona in June, at the age of 41. A team conflict would be just one more chapter in an already extraordinary story, but one that shows how much he wants a clear internal order at Ferrari. Whether the Scuderia holds the talks he asked for, and how it defines the roles of its two drivers from now on, may already become clear in São Paulo.
