Lewis Hamilton has publicly criticised Ferrari for what he describes as a lack of clear "rules of engagement" following a dramatic clash with his teammate Charles Leclerc at the Italian Grand Prix. The incident unfolded at the very start of the race when Hamilton made an aggressive move on the inside of Leclerc into the first corner. While Hamilton attempted to overtake, Leclerc managed to keep the inside line and, as the pair exited the chicane, Hamilton was forced off onto the gravel.
The result was a costly drop from his fourth‑place grid slot to tenth place, and he spent the remainder of the race fighting his way back up to finish sixth. Leclerc, who initially held onto third place after the contact, suffered a separate crash on the second lap, ending his race prematurely and leaving Ferrari with a disappointing showing at their home event.
In the post‑race interview, Hamilton lamented the absence of a structured set of guidelines within the team. "When I was at Mercedes we had written rules of engagement," he said. "We rarely had incidents like this.
Here, there are no rules. We need to address that." Former world champion Nico Rosberg, now a commentator for Sky Sports F1, weighed in on the incident, placing the blame squarely on Leclerc. Rosberg explained the basic principle that when the driver on the outside reaches the apex first, the driver on the inside must give room. "Lewis was ahead going into the apex, so Charles had to leave space.
He didn’t, so it’s 100 per cent Charles' fault," Rosberg asserted. Not everyone agreed with Rosberg’s assessment.
Fellow analyst Martin Brundle argued that Hamilton’s own aggressive approach into Turn 1 set the stage for the contact. Brundle noted that Leclerc was already ahead on the inside at the apex of Turn 2 and suggested that the under‑steer Leclerc experienced was a normal first‑lap occurrence rather than a punishable error. "I don’t think he would have been penalised," Brundle said.
The race itself saw championship leader Kimi Antonelli pull off a remarkable victory, climbing from 19th on the grid to claim the top step and extending his lead over Hamilton to 76 points. Antonelli’s win also pushed George Russell further ahead of the Ferrari driver in the standings, as Russell secured second place for Mercedes, completing a one‑two finish for the team. In the lead‑up to the Grand Prix, there had been speculation in the media about whether Ferrari might favour Hamilton over Leclerc given the British driver’s larger points haul. After the race, when asked if he should be given priority, Hamilton replied that the discussion was now "too far past" and that the team had already lost valuable points.
"We will do our best to keep pushing the rest of the season, but they are out now, ahead of us," he added. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur cautioned against making premature decisions about driver hierarchy. He cited McLaren’s experience from the previous season, when Oscar Piastri led the championship early on but was eventually overtaken by his teammate Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. "It’s too early to decide before Monza.
We still have time to discuss with the drivers," Vasseur explained. Leclerc, for his part, admitted that the early battle with Hamilton had gone "too far" but questioned who was crafting a narrative that pits the two teammates against each other.
He referenced the earlier race at Zandvoort, where Hamilton felt held up by Leclerc while they were on differing strategies. "I don’t know who is forcing that narrative that we are one against the other," Leclerc said.
"At Zandvoort there were already too many talks. Here we went too far – I tried the tightest line possible but it wasn’t enough." Hamilton also expressed frustration with Ferrari’s strategic choices during the Italian Grand Prix. He criticised the tyre selection after the early red flag and the decision not to pit him under a virtual safety car (VSC).
"It’s one of the harder things to swallow today," he told Sky Sports F1. "I gave it everything, but we didn’t have the straight‑line speed and we became a sitting duck. I think we should have been on the hard tyre after the restart, but then we would have needed to overtake more people because we were further back than we should have been." Vasseur acknowledged that Ferrari’s lack of straight‑line speed makes extra pit stops risky, especially when rivals like Antonelli and Verstappen, who finished third, can afford the additional stop thanks to superior pace.
"We were ten seconds behind Max before the VSC and we finished ten seconds behind," Vasseur said. "If you 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 through NOW – no long‑term contract required and cancellable at any time.