Hamilton Blames Ferrari for Lack of Clear Rules After Clash with Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton has publicly criticised Ferrari for what he describes as a lack of clear "rules of engagement" following a dramatic incident with his teammate Charles Leclerc at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The controversy began on the opening lap when Hamilton attempted an aggressive overtake on the inside of the first corner. While Hamilton managed to move ahead briefly, Leclerc defended the inside line through the chicane, forcing Hamilton off the racing line and onto the gravel on the exit. The maneuver dropped Hamilton from his fourth‑place grid start to tenth place, and he spent the remainder of the race battling to recover positions, ultimately crossing the line in sixth.

Leclerc, who had been running third at the time of the contact, maintained his position after the incident but suffered a separate crash on the second lap that eliminated him from the race. The double setback left Ferrari with a disappointing home‑race weekend, as the team struggled to extract any points from its two drivers. In the post‑race interview, Hamilton lamented the absence of a defined set of conduct guidelines within the Ferrari garage. "When I was at Mercedes we had written rules of engagement," he explained.

"We rarely had serious incidents – there were a few moments with Nico Rosberg, but overall it was smooth. Here, there are no rules. We need to address that." Hamilton's comments hinted at a broader frustration with the team's internal dynamics, especially given his recent move to Ferrari in 2025 after a long tenure at Mercedes.

Former world champion Nico Rosberg, now a commentator for Sky Sports F1, weighed in on the incident, siding with Leclerc. Rosberg argued that the regulations dictate that when the driver on the outside (Hamilton in this case) reaches the apex or turn‑in point ahead of the driver on the inside, the inside driver must yield space. "Lewis was ahead going in, so Charles had to leave room.

He didn't, so it's 100% Charles' fault," Rosberg asserted. Conversely, fellow Sky Sports analyst Martin Brundle offered a different perspective. Brundle pointed out that Hamilton's move into Turn 1 was overly aggressive and that Leclerc was already ahead at the apex of Turn 2.

"Leclerc was far enough ahead on the inside of the corner. I don't think he would have taken a penalty," Brundle said.

He added that Leclerc's understeer and the resulting wide line were typical of a first‑lap scramble and did not merit a penalty. The race itself saw championship leader Kimi Antonelli deliver a stunning performance, climbing from 19th on the grid to claim victory and extend his lead over Hamilton to 76 points. Meanwhile, Mercedes secured a one‑two finish with George Russell taking second place, pushing the Ferrari driver further down the standings. The result also widened the points gap between Leclerc and Russell, leaving the Italian driver 10 points behind the Brit.

Prior to the Grand Prix, there had been speculation in the media about whether Ferrari might prioritize Hamilton over Leclerc given the former's larger points advantage. After the race, when asked if he should be 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 cautioned against premature team orders, noting that it was still early in the season to favor one driver over the other. He referenced McLaren's 2023 experience, when Oscar Piastri led the championship early on but was eventually overtaken by both his teammate Lando Norris and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

"For sure, 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.

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 admitted that both he and Hamilton had taken the early battle too far, but he questioned who was shaping the narrative of a rivalry between the two. He recalled the previous race at Zandvoort, where Hamilton expressed frustration after being held up by Leclerc while they were on different strategies.

"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 though 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 voiced disappointment with Ferrari's strategic choices during the race. He questioned the tyre compound selected for him after an early red flag and lamented a missed opportunity to pit 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.

We will look internally and try and 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 struggle to generate straight‑line speed made additional pit stops a risky proposition. "We were 10 seconds behind Max before the VSC and we finished 10 seconds behind," he said. "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 a streaming option via NOW that offers flexible contracts and cancellation at any time.