Lewis Hamilton believes that Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur was “nervous” ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix, amid the fallout from his intra-team clash with Charles Leclerc.
The Brit and his Monegasque counterpart were involved in a frantic and nerve-jangling exchange in the first two chicanes of the opening lap of the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Leclerc leapt ahead of George Russell from third on the grid to challenge polesitter Hamilton going into Turns 1 and 2, the pair almost touching.
Into 3 and 4, the pair, on this occasion, indeed made some contact, with saw both cars go off the track, with Leclerc taking the lead off track, as Hamilton dropped to third behind Max Verstappen.
Leclerc was given a five-second penalty for his troubles, with Hamilton left to stew over the incident both in the car and after the race.
As well as making assertions about Leclerc’s mentality and calling for talks with Ferrari about the incident, Hamilton made the claim about Team Principal Vasseur’s apparent anxious disposition to media in the post-race press conference.
Lewis Hamilton reveals doubt over potential change at Ferrari
“I mean, I’ve had way worse times at Mercedes,” he replied, when asked by Motorsport Week whether he is finding resolutions to such incidents tougher at Ferrari.
“There were some really bad moments, but no, I don’t really see there being huge differences. I think it was managed well at Mercedes, and I think Fred’s doing his best.
“I think Fred came and spoke to me before the race, and I think he was nervous. I think he just wanted us… Of course, he wants these two drivers to do well.
“Yeah, I mean, I think from my side, if I’m coming from behind and I’m taking all the risk and it ends up that we lose as a team, then I think I have some answering to do, because it impacts a lot of people.
“But the other way around, I’m in the lead, and it was just unnecessary. I think we could have easily, as I said, had that one-two today, which would have been huge for the team and for everyone back at the factory who’s worked so hard to bring us these upgrades.
“I don’t really know what will be done because up until now nothing really has been done. So, yeah, we’ll see.”
READ MORE – Kimi Antonelli crowned youngest F1 champion in Mexico City
Discussion about this post