Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari “easily had a car to have P1 and P2” during the Mexico City Grand Prix, as an opening lap battle with team mate Charles Leclerc potentially cost the team victory.
The seven-time World Champion claimed his maiden Grand Prix pole position for the Scuderia ahead of Sunday’s 71-lap race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, showing strong pace before he held his advantage on the long run to Turn 1.
But Leclerc moved to the outside in the braking zone, with the pair running side-by-side through the opening sequence of corners as Hamilton just stayed ahead.
The Briton defended again into Turn 4 as both he and Leclerc went deep into the corner and off the track, but whereas Hamilton made an attempt to rejoin the circuit as soon as possible, Leclerc headed across the grass to take the lead.
Hamilton’s loss of momentum meant he lost another position to eventual race winner Max Verstappen, with Leclerc only handed a five-second penalty for the incident, the stewards not handing out a harsher punishment as Hamilton had also gone off track.
Leclerc lost the lead to Verstappen after serving his penalty during a pit stop, with Hamilton jumping ahead of his team mate after a mid-race restart following a red flag.
Despite challenging Verstappen until the end and finishing second, Hamilton was visibly frustrated by his team mate’s actions, claiming Ferrari “easily had a car to have P1 and P2 today”.
“I don’t really have anything to say about the scenario with Charles. I think you can see what happened and the reason we lost the win,” said Hamilton.
“In the drivers’ briefing, we discussed that as soon as you go off at Turn 1, you have to give the position back, or else… Last year I got a 10-second penalty for that same move that he did.
“Ultimately, it was that that lost us the win today. And I, yeah, I think we have to have some serious talks behind the scenes for sure.”
This is not the first time Leclerc and Hamilton have gone wheel-to-wheel this season, the pair having had a frenetic battle in China, while Leclerc apologised for pushing Hamilton off at the start of the Italian GP.
Hamilton admitted that a “serious conversation” would be needed, and that any internal fighting would only hold the team back.
“I think the core thing to remember, which maybe comes with age, is that every decision you make in the car impacts all the people that work in the background for the whole team,” said Hamilton.
“So, working as a team is a part of our job and a part of our contract. We have to work as a team, which we could have easily done today. So, it’s a shame to see us lose this, as we did. That will just continue unless action is taken, if a real deep, serious conversation is had.
“So, it shouldn’t happen moving forward. Of course, I’ve had close battles with team mates in the past, and you can’t always get it right, but nine times out of ten we should be able to.
“So, I think we’ll take it offline and we’ll have some good conversations, hopefully. For sure, it won’t be easy, but it must be done.”
