Lewis Hamilton opened up about his opening-lap scrap with Charles Leclerc, whether he should receive priority in the F1 championship fight going forward, whether the teammate rivalry risks going sour, the lack of any rules of engagement, and Ferrari’s reluctance to heed his advice following his sixth-place finish at the 2026 Italian GP on Sunday.
After nearly missing out on the final segment of qualifying, the Brit set the fifth-fastest time in Q3. Oscar Piastri’s grid penalty meant he lined up on the second row of the grid on Sunday.
The Ferrari duo went wheel-to-wheel immediately as the race got underway. Hamilton launched an aggressive move up the inside of his teammate at the first corner. Since the Monégasque held onto the inside line, he ran into the gravel at the exit of the chicane and lost several positions.
With Leclerc experiencing a massive high-speed shunt on Lap 2 and bringing out the red flag, Hamilton swapped his softs for mediums. As the action resumed, he produced a solid recovery drive that took him as high as third.
When Lance Stroll encountered a hydraulic issue and triggered the VSC on Lap 28, the Ferrari pit wall opted to not box Hamilton and maintain track position.
However, the 41-year-old struggled on the straights as the race progressed, and the loss of tyre performance towards the end meant that he was unable to defend his position even against the McLaren drivers, who were also managing heavily worn rubber.
Hamilton ultimately took the chequered flag in P6, 24.655 seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli. As it stands, he is now 76 and 10 points adrift of the Italian driver and George Russell, respectively, in the Drivers’ standings.
Opening-lap scrap with Leclerc and tyre choice for restart
Speaking in the print media pen after the 53-lap F1 race, Lewis Hamilton addressed his scuffle with Leclerc and argued that his loss of positions on Lap 1 of the 2026 Italian GP hurt the team. He also reckoned that they shouldn’t have opted for the medium compound prior to the restart.
“Not really much to say about it. It was very bad for the team, and obviously it put us way back in positions.
“And then I just tried to reset, and I was like, ‘okay, I’ll try and catch up’, and then obviously we had to stop. And I think we put the wrong tyres on, probably.”
In terms of Leclerc concluding that he and Hamilton had gone “too far” in their early battle through the opening corners and whether he agreed with his teammate’s assessment, Hamilton responded: “I was ahead in Turn 2 by the apex; I was ahead. There was no ‘we’ in it.”
Hamilton weighs in on whether Ferrari should prioritise him over Leclerc after 2026 Italian GP
With respect to his radio exchange on the second lap of the 2026 Italian GP and whether it was referring to teamwork in light of the Lap 1 incident, Lewis Hamilton said, “Yeah, afterwards we’ll take it offline, and we’ll talk about it.”
As far as priority over Leclerc is concerned, the Brit noted that he has already lost a lot of ground to his championship rivals. Lamenting that the ship has sailed, he claimed that Ferrari should’ve established an on-track hierarchy long ago.
“Yeah, I think from today, we’ve just lost so much ground to [Mercedes] on points.
“It’s far too late for those decisions to come. It’s many, many weeks too late. So, all I can do is just try and turn up. I’ll get up tomorrow morning, and I’ll give it my best.”
Admitting that they had underperformed on their home turf, Hamilton stated their overall execution during the race weekend let them down, despite the team members back at Maranello pulling out all the stops for Monza.
“I think ultimately today I feel massively gutted for the Tifosi, who showed up for us today. The guys back at the factory really are giving it everything.
“Yesterday, we didn’t really execute that well, and I think the same today. It’s tough because we’ve given it everything I can, and sometimes it’s just not enough. You need all the other stuff to come together.”
Whether F1 will witness an intense intra-team feud at Ferrari
Asked if Ferrari fans should worry about the dynamic between himself and Leclerc potentially turning into a full-blown intra-team feud in the remaining rounds of the 2026 F1 season, Lewis Hamilton proclaimed post-Italian GP that he is a clean racer who always leaves enough space for his competitors during a battle.
Clearly insinuating that the Monégasque driver—unlike him—doesn’t race fairly, Hamilton doubled down on his claim that the team doesn’t have to worry about reining him in.
Adding that he is unsure what motivations are guiding his teammate and his side of the garage, the 106-time race winner touched on how he seeks to push the Italian outfit forward for the remainder of the campaign. He also highlighted the SF-26’s biggest weakness and emphasised how powerful the Red Bull and Mercedes power units were on the straights.
“Look, I don’t race dirty. I’ve always raced clean and fairly and always left space. So, I don’t think they should be worried about me.
“I’ve come into the team and tried to be respectful of space and definitely not put the team in jeopardy. I stand by that, and that’s all I can talk about is on my side.
“You have to speak to Fred [Vasseur] about the other side and the decisions that are taken there. But I’ll keep pushing and trying to get more from the team and from our car and from the engineers in design and everything like that.
“Today we’re just [lacking] straight-line speed. Max [Verstappen] with his great engine and the Mercedes with pretty much the same engine.”
Hamilton laments the absence of concrete rules after clash with Leclerc at 2026 Italian GP
Lewis Hamilton, who joined Ferrari from Mercedes in 2025, also shared his thoughts on how the Maranello-based squad manages wheel-to-wheel action between teammates.
Claiming that his former team had clear-cut rules of engagement, the Stevenage native rued the lack of any directives at Ferrari and called for specific guidelines to be put in place.
“I think it comes down to rules of engagement.
“When I was at Mercedes, we had written rules of engagement. We never really, really had it too bad. There was a moment maybe between me and Nico [Rosberg] a couple of times, but more often not, it was good.
“Here, there are no rules. And I think that’s something that needs to probably be addressed.”
Ferrari’s initial hesitance to listen to Hamilton
With regard to Ferrari taking a year to implement some of the changes he asked for and whether their reluctance to listen to his advice stems from a cultural barrier, Lewis Hamilton called out the media’s attempt to get a controversial statement out of him.
Reiterating that they fell short of expectations during the 2026 Italian GP weekend and that his hard-working team members don’t deserve further condemnation, the seven-time world champion offered an assurance that they would put their best foot forward at Madring.
“I know what you guys are trying to do. I don’t want to get into arguing and fighting about my team.
“At the end of the day, I’m trying my hardest to make this team and help this team get to where it needs to be. We didn’t do so well today. It’s painful enough as it is to be badgering my guys.
“They go home to their families. They’re working really, really hard.
“Yes, we didn’t get it right today. It isn’t good enough. But we’ll go back to the drawing table. We’ll come back. We’ll show up with good energy in the next race, and we’ll keep trying.”
