The Italian Grand Prix is probably the worst place for a dispute between teammates to arise, but that’s what happened at Monza, when Lewis Hamilton finished a distant sixth after Charles Leclerc threw him into the gravel on the first lap. Leclerc then spun into the Parabolica barrier at high speed at the end of the second lap, causing a red flag. The result of the weekend was that Hamilton lost further ground to his Mercedes teammates Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in the title race, while Ferrari fell 122 points behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings. Antonelli is now 66 points ahead of Russell and 76 ahead of Hamilton, while Leclerc is fifth, 112 points behind Antonelli. Hamilton has criticized Ferrari’s execution on several occasions this year, especially when it comes to team orders in scenarios where drivers have different strategies. At the Dutch GP, he felt a podium was on the table when the team appeared to hesitate over how to get Leclerc out of his way at a point when Hamilton was running faster on fresher tyres. Hamilton clearly feels he should have been prioritized, given he is closer to the Mercedes drivers than Leclerc in the drivers’ championship, but the opportunity has slipped away. Hamilton spoke candidly about his championship prospects after finishing sixth at Monza. Photo by: Getty Images “I think as of today we have lost a lot of ground to them. [Mercedes] in points,” he told the media, including Motorsport.com at Monza. “It’s too late for those decisions to come. They are many, many weeks too late. “All I can do is try to show up. I’ll get up tomorrow morning and do my best. In the end, today I feel massively gutted for the tifosi, who showed up for us today. “The guys at the factory, who are really, really giving it their all. You know we didn’t do so well yesterday. I think the same today. “It’s difficult. I’m giving everything I can, but sometimes it’s not enough. You need all the other things to come together. Ferrari may not have had a car fast enough to fight for outright victory at Monza, but it made the job of maximizing its potential unnecessarily difficult. Throughout qualifying, it struggled to orchestrate its drivers to provide mutual slipstream (essential on this circuit, given the number of straights) to the point where Hamilton was almost eliminated in the Q2. In his first Q3 In the first race, Hamilton was ejected from the pits late so he struggled to pick up the slipstream of the cars in front. He got a tow from Leclerc in his second race and lined up just behind his teammate on the grid when they were promoted to third and fourth by Oscar Piastri’s penalty. Hamilton then appeared to still be ahead at Turn 2 only to be pushed into the gravel by Leclerc in third. while Hamilton dropped to 10th. After the race, Leclerc framed the incident in terms of mutual responsibility, saying: “we went too far.” But Hamilton saw otherwise, although taking the inside line in the first part of this chicane tends to put the driver on the outside line in the left-hand corner, causing collisions like this that left Hamilton in 10th position. There was no “we” in it. “Look, I don’t run dirty. I’ve always run clean and fair and I’ve always left space. I came to the team and tried to be respectful of the space and definitely not put the team in danger.” I stand by it and all I can talk about is on my side. you have to talk to fred [Vasseur, team principal] about the other side and the decisions that are made there. “Ultimately, everything comes from the top. It filters down to the bottom, the decisions. It starts with Fred. “There’s a lot you can say, a lot you can push and shout from the top of the mountain. Yesterday I said that we have to analyze how we communicate. If we continue down the same path, we obtain the same result. “We keep getting the same result. We have to change things because it doesn’t help us move forward. I think they are receptive and we will pull the plug over the next week, probably not next week, but particularly after the next race, to try to see how we can do things differently procedurally so that the same thing can’t happen. “I think the factory guys are doing a great job. We’re not executing it as cleanly as we can. Easily not as good as the other teams are now. But we did at some points in the season.” Carrying out the team’s orders is a challenging proposition for Ferrari, given Leclerc’s status within the organisation. His management is understood to have been instrumental in Vasseur’s appointment, having convinced senior management that a regime change was necessary when Mattia Binotto was team principal. But if team-mates take points off each other, the damage may extend beyond the race to the drivers’ title. The constructors’ trophy may be less important to the fans, but the order of that championship determines the Therefore, indiscipline can have a direct effect on the balance: “I think it comes down to the rules of engagement,” Hamilton said “When I was at Mercedes, we had a written rule of engagement. We never really had it that bad. Maybe moments with me and Nico. [Rosberg] a couple of times. But most of the time it was good. “There are no rules here.” Read also: We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Motorsport.com? Take our 5-minute survey. – The Motorsport.com team
