Retour
Lewis Hamilton verbally dismantled Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc following the Mexican Grand Prix, which saw Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli crowned the youngest-ever F1 world champion.
The 20-year-old Italian finished third behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, clinching the title with several races to go in 2026.
Meanwhile, Hamilton, who started on pole, became embroiled in a tussle with Leclerc during the first lap of the race. The Brit later suggested it had cost the team victory in Mexico City.
The pair’s tangle at Turn 4 resulted in the Monegasque being handed a five-second penalty for passing Hamilton off track. Instead of handing the position back to his teammate, though, Leclerc decided to keep going, which left Hamilton fuming. "Got pushed out by my own teammate," he said via team radio.
“The penalty was deserved in a way,” Leclerc, who finished fourth, admitted after the race.
“The thing is that it was a bit confusing because we both didn’t make Turn 4. Then I stayed ahead, and then Max got past Lewis. So, yeah, then I asked what should I do? And I kept the position and took a deserved penalty.”
Hamilton also spoke out after the race and accused Leclerc of “working against” him before claiming that similar situations would occur between the Ferrari duo “unless action is taken”.
When questioned about how Ferrari should deal with the situation, Hamilton replied: “I don’t know what needs to happen now. How we discuss things when we go back – I’m not quite sure how I want to engage in that force of frustrations of today,” he said.
“I’m happy because this guy [Antonelli] just won the championship, so I’m really torn because, on one side, I’m happy and, on the other side, I’m really pi**ed.
“We lost valuable points. We, as a team, worked so hard. We could have easily had a one-two today. We had the pace to do so.
“So we’re going into Turn 4, first and second. If we just held position, I think anything can happen in the race, but when your teammate works against you, and then you lose positions like that, it’s definitely tough.
“So we’ll just talk about it offline, and it’s not really worth saying too much more. We don’t have rules of engagement, and whether or not that will change anything from Charles’ side, I don’t know.
“We’ve just got to figure it out, but something needs to change, for sure.”
Of course, Hamilton has already been involved in similar in-team battles with George Russell and Nico Rosberg during his F1 career.
When asked if the situation involving himself and Leclerc was similar, he responded: “Not much different, I would say, from any of the others that I’ve been alongside.
“I think the core thing to remember, which maybe comes with age, is that every decision you make in the car impacts all the people who work in the background – the whole team.
“So working as a team is part of our job and part of our contract: we have to work as a team, which we could have easily done today.
“So it’s a shame to see us lose as we did, and that will just continue unless action is taken and a real, deep, serious conversation is had, so it shouldn’t happen moving forward.
“Of course, I’ve had close battles with teammates in the past, and we can’t always get it right. But nine times out of 10, we should be able to.
“So I think we’ll take it offline, and we’ll have some good convos. Hopefully, for sure, it won’t be easy, but it must be done.”
F1 returns for the Brazilian Grand Prix on November 8.
Retour
Top
| Politique de confidentialité Conditions d'utilisation Contact |
Actualiser
|
All the best breaking news stories from Apex Scores Lite. Optimised for feature phones and low end Android devices, Apex Scores Lite helps users with legacy devices and poor network connectivity access the latest football news and live scores. Particularly relevant for breaking football news in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.