Lewis Hamilton has openly criticised Ferrari for what he describes as a lack of clear "rules of engagement" after a dramatic first‑lap incident with his team‑mate Charles Leclerc at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The controversy began when Hamilton attempted an aggressive overtake on the inside of Turn 1, targeting the pole position at the start of the race. While Hamilton managed to move ahead momentarily, Leclerc defended the inside line through the chicane and forced Hamilton off onto the gravel on the exit of the corner. The move dropped Hamilton from his starting spot of fourth to tenth place, leaving him to battle through the field for the remainder of the race.
He eventually recovered to finish sixth, but the incident sparked a heated debate about intra‑team etiquette and the presence – or absence – of explicit guidelines within Ferrari. Leclerc, who had been running third before the clash, retained his position after the contact but suffered a separate incident on the second lap that saw him crash out of the race. The double setback left Ferrari with a disappointing home‑race result and prompted a flurry of commentary from former drivers, team officials, and the drivers themselves.
In a post‑race interview, Hamilton said, "I think it comes down to rules of engagement. When I was at Mercedes we had written rules of engagement. We never really, really had it too bad. There was a moment between me and Nico a couple of times, but more often not, it was good.
Here, there are no rules. We need to address that." Hamilton, who will join Ferrari in 2025 after a long stint at Mercedes, emphasized that the absence of a clear protocol contributed to the misunderstanding that unfolded on the first lap. Former world champion Nico Rosberg, now a pundit for Sky Sports F1, weighed in on the incident, stating that the responsibility lay entirely with Leclerc.
"The rules are simple: if the driver on the outside – in this case Lewis – is ahead at the apex or during turn‑in, the driver on the inside must leave room. Lewis was ahead going in, so Charles has to leave room. He didn't, so it's 100 per cent Charles' fault," Rosberg asserted.
However, not everyone agreed with Rosberg's assessment. Sky Sports F1 analyst Martin Brundle offered a more nuanced view, pointing out that Hamilton's move into Turn 1 was exceptionally aggressive and that Leclerc was already ahead at the apex of Turn 2.
"Leclerc was far enough ahead on the inside of the corner there. I don't think he would have taken a penalty," Brundle said. He added that the understeer Leclerc experienced – a common occurrence on the first lap when drivers are jostling for position – was not something that would normally attract a penalty.
The race itself saw championship leader Kimi Antonelli (a fictional name used for illustration) climb from 19th on the grid to claim a stunning victory, extending his lead over Hamilton to 76 points. George Russell finished second, while Max Verstappen rounded out the podium in third place. The result widened the gap between Hamilton and his rivals, leaving him 10 points behind Russell after a day that saw Ferrari lose both of its drivers. Before the Grand Prix, media speculation had centered on whether Ferrari should prioritize Hamilton over Leclerc given the British driver's advantage in the championship standings.
After the race, when asked if Hamilton should have been given priority, Hamilton replied, "We are too far past that already. It's too late for that now.
I lost a lot of points today to those guys. We will do our best to keep pushing the rest of the season but they are out now, out ahead of us." Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur defended the team's approach, arguing that it was too early in the season to impose team orders. He cited McLaren's experience from the previous year, when Oscar Piastri led the championship early on but was eventually overtaken by his teammate Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
"The outcome of the first corners is not good for the team," Vasseur said. "Now, to see if we have a team order or whatever, I think the good comparison that I made was that last year, Piastri was leading McLaren at this stage of the season and if McLaren put everything on Piastri, Max Verstappen would have been champion.
For sure, at one stage you have to take a decision but I think it was too early to take a decision before Monza. Now we have time to discuss with the guys." Leclerc, reflecting on the incident, admitted that both drivers had taken the battle too far but questioned who was fueling the narrative of a rivalry between the two teammates. He referenced the previous race at Zandvoort, where Hamilton had been frustrated by being held up by Leclerc during a strategic pit‑stop battle.
"I don't really know who is forcing that narrative that we are one against the other," Leclerc said. "Honestly, Zandvoort there were way too many talks already. Here, it's true that we went too far.
I think Lewis in Turn 1, then Turn 2, I tried to do the tightest corner possible, but that was just not enough – and doing it here is not good." Hamilton also expressed disappointment with Ferrari's strategic choices during the race. He questioned the decision to place him on a softer tyre compound after an early red flag and criticized the team's choice not to pit him under a virtual safety car (VSC). "It's one of the harder ones to swallow today," he told Sky Sports F1. "I was definitely hoping for more.
I gave it absolutely everything. We just didn't have the speed on the straights and we were mostly a sitting duck to the guys around me." He added, "We will look internally and try to figure out what we could have done better.
I felt we should have been on the hard tyre on the restart but we also would have had to overtake people, because we were further back than we were supposed to be. I thought they were going to stop us under the VSC but they didn't, so I ran out of tyres." Vasseur explained that Ferrari's lack of straight‑line speed made overtaking particularly challenging, which in turn limited the team's flexibility in making additional pit stops. "We were 10 seconds behind Max before the VSC and we finished 10 seconds behind," he told Sky Sports F1.
"If you do this pit, you have to overtake and overtaking is not our favourite topic. It would have been more difficult." Looking ahead, the Formula 1 calendar moves to Madrid for the Spanish Grand Prix at the brand‑new Madring circuit. All sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 starting Friday, with streaming available via NOW without a long‑term contract. The upcoming race will provide another opportunity for Ferrari to assess its internal dynamics, refine its strategic approach, and perhaps establish clearer guidelines to prevent further intra‑team clashes.