Hamilton raises his voice against Leclerc and Vasseur, Ferrari’s boss, bursts out: “I think it’s a question of mentality. It’s a question of all or nothing. Either I win, or neither of us wins”
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were the great protagonists of the start of the GP of Mexico. And they were not exactly positive for Ferrari’s interests. The Monegasque wanted to get first by any means possible and launched an attack on the outside of turn 4 on the Briton. The seven-time world champion did not want to give in and extended his braking. Result? Both on the outside, Verstappen overtaking Hamilton and Leclerc penalized with five seconds for gaining an advantage on the outside of the track.
This gave wings to Max Verstappen’s victory with the Red Bull. Hamilton complained vigorously on the radio after the maneuver, saying that the five-second penalty did not harm Charles because ‘Il Predestinato’ could escape thanks to the fact that he had clean air. In the end, Hamilton was able to finish on the podium thanks to the red flag and the restart, while Leclerc was left out after destroying his tire in that second start. Despite this, Lewis was still very angry about his teammate’s performance.
“It’s one thing when that happens between fourth and fifth place, but another thing is when it happens between first and second, and you lose the victory. That’s significant. This guy is 28 years old, so I don’t think it’s an age thing.. I think it’s a question of mentality. It’s “all or nothing” type. Like: either I win, or neither of us wins, and it shouldn’t be that way.. It should be: us achieving this double, which is still, at the end of the day, a great satisfaction,” Hamilton said at the FIA press conference.
“At Silverstone, I could have launched a kamikaze maneuver to take him off the track and make us lose the victory, but instead, we had a double within reach, and I think we got a double… or was it a 1-3? I’m glad the team was able to experience that. I have good hopes that we will move towards better results in the future,” recalled the seven-time champion.
The fights with Sainz
Internal duels at Ferrari have always existed. What’s more, Leclerc already had more than one battle with Carlos Sainz or Sebastian Vettel while defending the colors of Maranello. Hamilton specifically referred to the duels against the Madrid native to say that mistakes had been made.
“Before joining this team, when I was at Mercedes, I observed and I witnessed the duels between Charles and Carlos. In several races, heThey fought each other so much that the one in the lead ended up running away.even though they both had the necessary pace to win the race,” Lewis said in closing.
Vasseur explodes
The one who ended up getting extremely angry was Fred Vasseur. The Team Principal of the Scuderia was very critical of the attitude of its drivers because they considered that they lost a victory that, due to pure pace, should have ended in their showcases.
“I think that It’s simply a matter of respect.. Respect for the brand, for the sponsor, for the team, for the 2,000 people who work tirelessly from home; I think we are recovering in terms of performance, that we have taken a good step forward, that we have made improvements and that the people at headquarters are working day and night. And honestlyIt’s hard for me to accept having let a victory like this slip away.. I will have time to talk to them, but, honestly, I’m a little discouraged today,” Vasseur explained on Canal+ France.
