Lewis Hamilton reveals Leclerc crunch talks as Ferrari outcome emerges

Lewis Hamilton said that he and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc have had the opportunity to sit down and discuss their clash at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Hamilton had continued the spat when he arrived at Interlagos, but the pair have now nipped the squabbling in the bud, with the Ferrari teammates “moving on” with “no demands” having been made from either side.

Lewis Hamilton calls Ferrari truce with Charles Leclerc

Hamilton was left enraged after Leclerc attempted to overtake him into Turn 4 on the opening lap in Mexico.

With neither Ferrari driver making the corner, Max Verstappen picked off Hamilton, while Leclerc’s resulting five-second penalty saw him also fall behind the Red Bull driver, who went on to win.

Accusing his teammate of working against him, Hamilton continued to push for further conversations within Ferrari as he arrived for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

He also suggested that Leclerc races him harder than other drivers, and while acknowledging the strength of the Leclerc and Ferrari relationship, spoke of wanting to elevate the team ahead of a title fight next year. He said everyone needs to be on the same page for this.

Leclerc arrived in Sao Paulo slightly later than the other drivers, having welcomed his first child, Bianca, into the world on Tuesday.

In his first discussion with the media, he said that the Hamilton spat was settled in his mind.

After qualifying, Hamilton also called a truce.

Asked by Sky F1 if Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur had now cleared the air between them, Hamilton responded: “I mean, Fred hasn’t cleared the air, in the sense of like me and Charles, we sat and spoke, and we squashed it, and we’re moving on.

“I think we still have a huge amount of respect for each other, and I’m glad we had a chat. Now we move on.

“And we’ve been getting along just fine as normal. So sometimes in those scenarios, it just takes having a conversation.

“And there’s been no demands from either side. It’s just been both giving our points and areas that we can do better and support each other.

“So I’m hoping to have a better race this week, of course.”

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Hamilton faces a major recovery mission on Sunday, as he prepares to start from the back after taking a new Ferrari power unit.

Having missed a large chunk of final practice through PU issues, Hamilton was treating qualifying like such a session, with the threat of rain continuing into race day.

“I love qualifying and getting to drive in the rain,” he said. “It’s such an amazing track to race in the rain, or all conditions, but in the wet particularly.

“I wish I could have stayed out and had a bit of a battle with everyone. But yeah, we had that problem in P3 and didn’t get any laps there. So it was basically a test/practice session for me to try and figure out what the car is like in these conditions, just in case tomorrow it is raining.”

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