After an Italian Grand Prix marked by his clash with Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton wanted to reassure Ferrari supporters. The Briton assures that he will always continue to race cleanly and in the interest of the Scuderia.
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Is the tension rising between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari? After the events of the last Grands Prix and especially their particularly intense battle at the start in Monza, the question inevitably begins to arise.
However, Hamilton does not want to hear about an internal war. Asked about the possible concerns of the tifosi, the seven-time world champion delivered a very clear message: on his side, he has no intention of putting Ferrari’s interests at risk.
The Briton believes he has always raced cleanly and assures he wants to continue respecting his teammate, even if the two drivers find themselves directly competing on the track.
“I do not race unfairly”
The start of the Italian Grand Prix immediately put the two Ferraris in the spotlight.
Leclerc and Hamilton started third and fourth respectively and found themselves side by side in the first chicane. A slight contact eventually sent Hamilton into the gravel, dropping the Briton down to tenth position.
An incident that reignited questions about how Ferrari manages its two drivers, especially after the disagreements already appeared in Zandvoort.
However, Hamilton believes that Scuderia supporters have no reason to worry about his behavior.
“I do not race unfairly,” he states.
“I have always raced cleanly and fairly, and I have always left space. So I don’t think they should worry about me.”
Hamilton assures he wants to protect Ferrari
Since his arrival in Maranello, the Briton claims to have sought to respect his teammate’s place and, above all, never to compromise Ferrari’s results.
“I came to this team trying to respect everyone’s space and, above all, not to put the team in danger. I maintain this position.”
However, Hamilton specifies that he can only answer for his own behavior.
“That’s all I can speak about on my side.”
A statement that inevitably leaves some room for interpretation after the events in Monza. For the decisions made by Ferrari and the overall management of the situation between its two drivers, Hamilton directly refers to Fred Vasseur.
“You have to talk to Fred regarding the other side of the situation and the decisions we could have made.”
An incident “very bad for the team”
However, Hamilton does not seek to minimize the consequences of his battle with Leclerc.
While Ferrari had its two cars on the second row of the grid, the first chicane incident immediately compromised the Briton’s chances.
“It was obviously very bad for the team,” Hamilton acknowledges.
“It made us lose a lot of positions.”
A few moments later, the situation became even more catastrophic when Leclerc suffered a violent accident at the Parabolica. The impact, measured at 60 g, caused his retirement and led to a red flag stoppage of the race.
Hamilton therefore found himself alone to defend Ferrari’s colors in front of the tifosi.
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Hamilton manages to get back into the battle
After falling to tenth position, the Briton explains that he tried to immediately forget the incident in order to refocus on his race.
“I tried to start over mentally and I found myself in the battle. It was going quite well.”
The behavior of the SF-26 in the corners was satisfying to him.
“The grip was good and, overall, the car behaved properly in the corners.”
But Ferrari faced a much harder weakness to compensate: the speed deficit on the straights compared to the cars equipped with the Mercedes engine.
Hamilton stunned by the power of the Mercedes engine
In the end, four of the five cars classified ahead of Hamilton were powered by Mercedes.
Kimi Antonelli and George Russell secured the one-two for the official team, while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished fourth and fifth with their McLaren. Only Max Verstappen, third with Red Bull, came to interpose himself among the cars powered by the German manufacturer.
Hamilton already knew the strength of the Mercedes engine in Monza, but he admits to being impressed by the magnitude of the gap.
“On the straights, they simply pulled away.”
“We knew they were fast, but it was really astonishing to see how fast they were on the straight. The power of the Mercedes… this thing just keeps pushing, pushing, and pushing.”
Even Pierre Gasly, who started on pole position with his Alpine powered by Mercedes, finished only three seconds behind Hamilton in seventh position.
Hamilton wants to continue to push Ferrari forward
The Briton therefore believes that his sixth place probably represented the maximum achievable under these circumstances, even if Ferrari could have possibly tried a tire change under the Virtual Safety Car.
Hamilton had also signaled a few laps earlier that his tires were starting to lose effectiveness, but the team chose to keep him on track.
Despite the frustrations accumulated in Monza, the seven-time world champion assures that he will continue to push Ferrari in all areas.
“I will continue to push and try to get more from the team, from our car, from the engineers, from the design department, and everything else.”
The message addressed to the tifosi is therefore twofold. Hamilton acknowledges that what happened with Leclerc in Monza was bad for Ferrari and that some decisions will need to be analyzed internally. But he refuses that his behavior be presented as a threat to the team’s balance.
For Hamilton, Ferrari supporters can be reassured: he intends to continue fighting with Leclerc, but never to deliberately cross the line or compromise the Scuderia’s interests. After Monza, it is now up to Ferrari to determine if more precise rules should govern future duels between its two drivers.