Charles Leclerc has now delivered his opinion on the controversial moment with his Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.
Leclerc and Hamilton got their elbows out against each other on the opening lap of the 71-lap race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday.
The Monegasque made an aggressive move on Saturday’s pole-sitter for the lead of the race at Turn 4.
But as neither left any margin out on track, Leclerc was forced to take evasive action, and Hamilton was compromised out of Turn 5 with Max Verstappen taking the net race lead.
After the race, Hamilton called out his team-mate’s “mentality”, with the seven-time F1 World Champion also proclaiming Ferrari had “big problems” to address on the team radio.
Leclerc has now responded, conceding that his incident with Hamilton will be a “talking point” within the Scuderia.
“I didn’t really have clear feedback, and I think it was just confusing enough to keep the position,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I was expecting some kind of penalty. I spoke briefly with the team to try to understand. I asked, ‘What shall I do now?’
“It’s always very tricky. And obviously, in that situation, you kind of expect to… 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.
“In the end, I kept going. Obviously, it’s going to be a bit of a talking point for sure at the next briefing.”
Charles Leclerc feels he ‘paid the price’ for equal Lewis Hamilton mistake at F1 Mexico GP
Leclerc was handed a five-second time penalty by the stewards after he failed to give the position back.
At the chequered flag, he finished fourth, behind the 2026 drivers’ Champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Looking back, Leclerc refused to take the entire blame on himself. He insisted that “we both made a mistake,” for which it was he who had taken the ire of the stewards.
“We are fighting for the win, and so, of course, there’s going to be very little margin left from him and from me,” he added.
“In the end, we both made a mistake going into Turn 4. It’s not like we had contact or whatever. 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; [Turns] 1-2-3 was very close, but I was expecting it to fight for the lead.
“[Turns] 4 [and] 5, we both made a mistake that I paid for with a penalty. Then you can argue whether it’s enough or not, and Lewis then paid out of [Turn] 5 with Max.”
Heading into the race weekend at Interlagos, Leclerc currently sits fifth in the standings.
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