Lewis Hamilton has moved to extinguish any fears that his opening-lap clash with Charles Leclerc at the Italian Grand Prix could ignite a lasting feud inside the Scuderia, insisting that Ferrari’s tifosi have no reason to question his intentions or his racing ethics.
The two Ferrari drivers arrived at the first chicane at Monza running third and fourth, with Leclerc ahead and Hamilton tucked into his teammate’s slipstream.
But as they battled for position through the opening complex, the red cars came together, with Hamilton forced onto the gravel and tumbling down the order.
Hamilton immediately made his displeasure known over Ferrari’s team radio, claiming that Leclerc had pushed him off. The Briton eventually fought his way back to sixth, while Leclerc’s own afternoon unravelled spectacularly on the following lap when he ran wide at Parabolica and slammed into the barriers.
For Ferrari supporters, however, the damage extended beyond the points tally. Hamilton had already expressed frustration about being held up by Leclerc at the previous Dutch Grand Prix, and the latest flashpoint inevitably raised questions about whether the honeymoon between Ferrari’s two star drivers was beginning to sour.
The seven-time world champion, though, has offered the tifosi a firm dose of reassurance.
Hamilton draws a line under Leclerc clash
Asked whether Ferrari fans should be concerned about growing friction between the teammates, Hamilton delivered an unequivocal response.
“I don’t race dirty,” Hamilton said. “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, and I stand by that. That’s all I can talk about on my side.
“You have to speak to Fred [Vasseur, team principal] about the other side and decisions that we could have taken, 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.”
That final point is significant. Hamilton may have been bruised by what happened at the first chicane, but he appears determined not to allow one combustible moment to become a larger political battle within Ferrari.
Indeed, with the Scuderia struggling for outright performance at its own circuit, Hamilton described the incident as particularly damaging to the team rather than simply a personal grievance.
Ferrari fighting a much bigger battle
The irony was that the intra-Ferrari squabble was unfolding while the team was already being comprehensively outgunned.
Mercedes-powered machinery dominated the afternoon, with Kimi Antonelli leading home his Mercedes teammate, while McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri followed in third and fourth. Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was the lone non-Mercedes-powered car among the leading five.
Hamilton, meanwhile, had to claw his way back after being dumped into the gravel and later found himself frustrated by Ferrari’s decision not to pit him for fresh rubber during the Virtual Safety Car, despite his concerns about his tyres.
“Obviously, [the incident] put us way back in positions,” he said.
“I then tried to reset, and I was in the fight, doing good. The grip felt good, and the car generally felt decent through the corners.
“But on the straight, they were just pulling. We knew they were fast on the straight, but it was really mind-blowing just how quick they were on the straight – the Mercedes power. That thing just keeps pulling, pulling, pulling.”
Read also:
So while Hamilton and Leclerc’s first-lap encounter provided plenty of fuel for speculation, the seven-time world champion appears keen to prevent the sparks from becoming a fire.
For Ferrari, the message to the tifosi is therefore simple: whatever happened at Monza, Hamilton insists there is no dirty racing agenda, no desire to destabilise his relationship with Leclerc and no intention of putting the team at risk.
The real problem facing the Scuderia, he suggests, is not a civil war between its drivers — it is finding enough speed to stop everyone else from driving away.
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via X and Facebook
The post Hamilton sends Ferrari fans clear message: ‘I don’t race dirty’ appeared first on F1i.com.
