Hamilton Criticizes Ferrari for Lack of Clear Rules After Monza Collision with Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton has publicly criticized Ferrari’s handling of his collision with Charles Leclerc at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The British driver believes the team lacks clear rules to manage on-track battles between its two drivers, and that cost Ferrari dearly. Hamilton started from fourth place, behind teammate Leclerc in third. At Turn 2, the two Ferraris made contact. Hamilton was forced wide and lost several positions. Soon after, Leclerc crashed and retired. After the restart, Hamilton could only recover to sixth place. Ferrari left its home race without a driver in the top five, a significant blow in the constructors’ fight against Mercedes. Hamilton said: “I was ahead at Turn 2. At the apex, I was ahead. There was no ‘us’ in that. This was very bad for the team and obviously cost us a lot of positions.” The 41-year-old insisted he never races dirty and always leaves space, but stressed that decisions must come from the top, starting with team principal Fred Vasseur. “There is a limit to how much you can say or shout from above. I said yesterday that we need to review our communication. If we keep going down the same path, we will get the same result. We have to change things because this is not helping us progress. It is about setting rules of engagement,” Hamilton said. Hamilton also referenced his time at Mercedes, where he had fierce battles with Nico Rosberg. He says Mercedes had written rules of engagement that kept internal clashes under control. “When I was at Mercedes we had written rules. Actually we hardly ever had big problems. There were maybe a few moments between Nico and me, but most of the time it worked. Here there are no rules, and I think that is something we need to change,” he added. With these blunt comments, Hamilton has sent a clear message to Ferrari: without explicit internal regulations, similar incidents could happen again in decisive races and continue to cost the team points against Mercedes.