Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari would have lost more wins this year if he had the same “kamikaze” mentality as team mate Charles Leclerc.
The seven-times world champion blamed his team mate for costing Ferrari victory in yesterday’s Mexican Grand Prix. Both he and Leclerc went off at turn four while fighting over the lead on lap one.Hamilton said he’d noticed Leclerc’s battles with his predecessor Carlos Sainz Jnr cost Ferrari points in the past.
“Before I joined this team, when I was at Mercedes, I watched and witnessed the back and forth between Charles and Carlos several races, where they were battling so much that the person ahead just pulled away, and they had the pace to actually win,” he said. “But it is one thing when that’s happening in fourth and fifth, as opposed to first and second, and you lose the win. That’s significant.
“The guy [Leclerc] is 28 years old, so I don’t think it’s an age thing. I think it’s a mentality thing. It’s like, “Do or die. Either I win or none of us do,” and it shouldn’t be that. It should be us having, getting that one-two.”
Hamilton pointed out he did not compromise Leclerc’s race when he won at Silverstone earlier this year. “In Silverstone, I could have gone all kamikaze on him and taken him off and lost us the win, but instead the one-two was there.” They finished first and third but were holding the top two positions before Hamilton pitted when the Safety Car was deployed.
“For me, I’m happy for the team to have experienced that, but I’m hopeful we’ll work towards a better working place in the future.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
In remarks similar to those of Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, Hamilton said the result did not do justice to the effort made by the team.
“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,” he said. “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 [again] 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.”
However Hamilton admitted he’d experienced tougher situations previously at other teams, such as at Mercedes, where he and team mate Nico Rosberg once took each other out at the start of a race.
“I’ve had way worse times at Mercedes. There were some really bad moments. 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.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“Fred came and spoke to me before the race, and I think he was nervous. Of course, he wants [his] two drivers to do well.”
He said he would have had to explain his actions had he attacked his team mate from behind the way Leclerc did.
“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 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.”
Penalty box
Did the stewards issue the correct penalty to Leclerc? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
A RaceFans account is required in order to vote. If you do not have one, register an account here or read more about registering here. When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.