Lewis Hamilton has taken aim at Ferrari, claiming the Italian team operates without clear "rules of engagement" after a dramatic first‑lap incident with his teammate Charles Leclerc at the Italian Grand Prix. The controversy began when Hamilton attempted an aggressive inside move on Leclerc into the opening corner.
While Hamilton managed to get alongside, Leclerc defended the inside line and forced Hamilton off onto the gravel at the chicane exit. The manoeuvre dropped Hamilton from his fourth‑grid start to tenth place, and he spent the remainder of the race fighting back, ultimately crossing the line in sixth.
Leclerc, who had initially held third after the contact, suffered a separate crash on lap two, leaving Ferrari with a very disappointing home‑race. "It comes down to the rules of engagement," Hamilton said, noting that during his time at Mercedes the team had explicit guidelines governing on‑track battles.
"When I was at Mercedes we had written rules of engagement. We rarely had serious incidents – there were a few moments with Nico, but mostly it worked well.
Here there are no rules. That needs to be fixed." Sky Sports F1 analyst Nico Rosberg, the 2016 champion, backed Hamilton's view, arguing that the driver on the outside – in this case Hamilton – must be given room if he is ahead at the apex or during turn‑in. "Lewis was ahead going into the apex, so Charles had to leave a gap. He didn't, so it's 100 percent Charles' fault," Rosberg said.
However, fellow Sky commentator Martin Brundle offered a different perspective. He pointed out that Hamilton's dive into the inside of Turn 1 was an aggressive but legal racing move, and that Leclerc was already ahead at the apex of Turn 2, giving him the inside line – a crucial factor in racing etiquette. "Leclerc was far enough ahead on the inside.
I don't think he would have taken a penalty," Brundle explained. "Leclerc under‑steered wide, which is normal on the first lap. I don’t believe a penalty was warranted." The race also saw championship leader Kimi Antonelli pull off a stunning victory from 19th on the grid, extending his lead over Hamilton to 76 points.
Meanwhile, Ferrari's internal dynamics became a talking point after the weekend. Media speculation had centred on whether the team should favour Hamilton, who is higher in the standings, over Leclerc. After the race, Hamilton was asked if he should be given priority.
He responded that the issue was "far past" and that the team had already lost valuable points. "We will do our best for the rest of the season, but they are now ahead of us," he said. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur cautioned against premature team orders, citing last year’s McLaren experience when Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris early in the season only to see both overtaken by Red Bull's Max Verstappen later on.
"The outcome of the first corners was not good for the team," Vasseur said. "It’s too early to decide before Monza. We still have time to discuss with the drivers." Leclerc admitted that the early‑lap battle with Hamilton had gone "too far" but questioned who was shaping the narrative that the two were at odds.
He referenced the previous round at Zandvoort, where Hamilton felt held up by Leclerc due to 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 many talks. Here it’s true we went too far – Lewis in Turn 1, then Turn 2 – I tried to make the tightest line possible, but it wasn’t enough." Hamilton also expressed frustration with Ferrari’s strategic choices during the race.
He criticized the tyre selection after an early red flag and the decision not to pit under a virtual safety car, saying it left him without enough rubber to fight back. "It’s one of the harder things to swallow today," he told Sky Sports F1. "I gave it everything, but we lacked straight‑line speed and 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. I expected a VSC stop, but they didn’t give us one, so I ran out of tyres." Vasseur explained that Ferrari’s deficiency in straight‑line speed makes extra pit stops risky, especially when rivals like Antonelli and Verstappen, who finished third, can afford them.
"We were ten seconds behind Max before the VSC and finished ten seconds behind," he said. "If you pit, you have to overtake, and overtaking is not our strong suit.
It would have been more difficult." The weekend’s drama sets the stage for the next race weekend in Madrid, where the new Madring circuit will host the Spanish Grand Prix. All sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, with streaming available via NOW, offering a contract‑free, cancel‑anytime option.