Charles Leclerc responds to Lewis Hamilton's call for Ferrari talks after Mexico GP

Charles Leclerc says Lewis Hamilton’s driving was “very much on the limit” as he defended his own move at the beginning of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Leclerc attacked polesitter Hamilton at Turn 4 on the opening lap and made it out of the scrap ahead of him.

“I mean, it was definitely an opportunity. In Turn 1 there was a gap on the outside and I had quite a lot of speed around the outside of Turn 1, and there was very little space for Turn 2, which is expected for the win obviously,” Leclerc said.

“And then four, five, Lewis and I both tried to brake very late. We both didn’t make the corner. I obviously cut the track, which eventually then after Turn 5 there was Max in between, which made the situation more confusing.”

While the stewards later gave Leclerc a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, Hamilton also lost out to Verstappen, who used the opportunity to put his car in second. When Leclerc later served the penalty at his pitstop, Verstappen emerged at the front of the pack and eventually won the race.

Hamilton said afterwards that the incident had cost Ferrari the win, and that “we have to have some serious talks behind the scenes for sure”.

Asked whether the pair now needed more rules between them, Leclerc said a conversation would follow, but suggested that Hamilton’s frustrations aren’t necessarily aimed at him.

“We will talk about it obviously. I don’t know if he was very unhappy with what I did, because I felt like it was very much on the limit also what he did,” he said.

“I think he was maybe more angry with the whole situation, how the situation was dealt in four, five with the penalty etc. So this is something we’ll talk about for sure.”

Leclerc also played down the incident, admitting that both had made an error as they fought for track position.

“We are fighting for the win and so of course there’s going to be very little margin left from him and from me. At the end we both did a mistake going into Turn 4,” he said.

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

“It’s not like we had contact or whatsoever. We both went straight and that gave the opportunity for Max to overtake, so I don’t think it should be that much of a talking point.

“Of course it was close, one, two, three was very close, but I was expecting it to fight for the lead. Four, five, we both made a mistake that I paid with a penalty. Then you can argue whether it’s enough or not, and Lewis then paid out of five with Max.”

The stewards had ruled that both cars had entered the corner with excessive speed. But they said Leclerc was not entitled to claim the corner, and had completed an overtake off the track.

Hamilton had called for Leclerc to hand the place back during the race, but the Monegasque didn’t receive guidance from the Ferrari team to confirm the move.

“Speaking with the team, I didn’t really have a clear feedback, and I think it was just confusing enough to keep the position, and I was expecting some kind of penalty, and then we paid the penalty,” he said.

“We spoke briefly with the team to try and understand. I asked, ‘What should I do now?’ And it’s always very tricky, and obviously in that situation you kind of expect you have to do something, but is it second? Is it third? Is it fourth? Well, fourth probably didn’t make sense, but second or third.

“And at the end I kept going. Obviously it’s going to be a bit of a talking point for sure next briefing.”

Leclerc added that he understood why the size of the penalty was being questioned, but said the rules left little room for anything else.

“There are also rules written, and that’s a bit the difficult thing as well, is that this situation, if you take it by the rule, is not so different to other situations. However, I do agree with you. Sometimes there are scenarios in which you gain more than the other,” he said.

“So I think eventually we just need tracks that doesn’t allow us to play with those kind of limits and grey areas, because then it ends up being a bit of a difficult one, and I’m sure many people will see it in a very bad way, which I understand, but it is the way it is.”

Asked whether drivers had been warned of harsher penalties for similar moves after George Russell cut the chicane in Monaco last year, Leclerc said that had only applied to that circuit.

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

“In Monaco yes, in Monaco for sure. I don’t think it was a general thing for everywhere, but again, I am not completely disagreeing. It’s just that those rules can have some grey zones on some tracks like today,” he said.

“We knew it. We kind of spoke about it on Thursday with the drivers at the driver briefing. I think that the final solution is to have a track that doesn’t allow you to do that.”

Leclerc believes that changing the circuits is the only real answer, having discussed the issue with his fellow drivers before the race.

“I think, honestly, we’ve been speaking about it all Thursday at the drivers’ briefing, trying to understand in which way should we best take a decision with that. And I think the conclusion of everyone is that we first need probably to change the tracks and make sure that there’s no places or tracks where you can take those amount of risk on the inside,” he said.

“If there was obviously a wall at the exit of Turn 4, neither Lewis or I will have pushed the braking point that much, so I think there’s some things that we can improve track-wise in order to make it more simple, because otherwise it’s very complicated.”

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