Hamilton demands “serious talks” at Ferrari after Leclerc clash in Mexico GP “lost us the win”

Lewis Hamilton has called for “serious talks” at Ferrari following his clash with team-mate Charles Leclerc in Formula 1’s Mexico Grand Prix.

Polesitter Hamilton was challenged by Leclerc from third after front-row starter George Russell lost momentum ahead of Turn 1. The seven-time world champion narrowly held off the sister car in the first corner sequence, but Leclerc launched an attack around the outside of Turn 4; as both cars went off, the Monegasque cut Turn 5 and retained the lead, while Hamilton lost momentum and was overtaken by Max Verstappen.

Leclerc’s race unravelled as he got a five-second penalty for the opening-lap incident – he did pull a five-second gap on Verstappen ahead of their first pitstop, but spent 6.3s more in the pitlane and lost the lead; at the second start following the red flag for Valtteri Bottas’ crash, he flat-spotted his tyres.

Meanwhile, Hamilton never found a way back past the Red Bull and finished second, eight tenths away from victory.

Part of the reason why Leclerc didn’t just cede the position back to Hamilton at the start was the fact he would have had to let Verstappen through, but this still infuriated the Briton.

“The problem is he's got clean air, and doesn't have to manage like the rest of us. He should just give the place back,” Hamilton told his race engineer on the radio. A few laps later, he doubled down: “The stewards are basically handing Charles this win.”

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

By the time he was speaking in parc ferme, Hamilton had cooled down, but he still made it clear he was unhappy with the way things unfolded at Ferrari in Mexico.

“A tough day,” he said. “I think we had the pace to win today, but it wasn't meant to be. We'll take it offline and figure out what we can do in the background.

“In the drivers' briefing, we discussed, as soon as you go off in Turn 1, you have to give the position back. Last year, I got a 10-second penalty for that same move that he did,” the Ferrari driver added, referring to his own attempt to overtake Verstappen around the outside in Turn 4 in 2025. “But ultimately, it was that that lost us the win today. I think we have to have some serious talks behind the scenes, for sure.”

Hamilton hailed Kimi Antonelli’s “pretty phenomenal” achievement as F1’s youngest-ever world champion and will now seek to challenge his Mercedes successor in the 2027 season.

“The good thing is the team are working really hard, we've really improved our car, it's great to be here,” he continued. “We're on the old engine this weekend as well, so good result, good points, shame we didn't get a win – but you know, some you win, some you lose.

“I'm hoping next year we have an engine to be able to actually compete with them – I mean, this year, they were just flying past us on most of the straights through the year, so if we can fix that and keep this car, the base of it, I think we can do really great. So I'm relying on the team, I have 100% faith in them.”