Lewis Hamilton Ferrari ‘number one’ theory put forward by Brundle

What Charles Leclerc did in Mexico “wasn’t the smartest move” in his “career and life,” with Lewis Hamilton now using it to “carve himself out more of a number one spot” at Ferrari.

That is the theory put forward by former F1 driver turned pundit Martin Brundle.

Lewis Hamilton using Leclerc clash to strengthen Ferrari status?

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, his eyes on a title fight next year. He said everyone needs to be on the same page for this.

Speaking on Sky F1, Brundle said of Hamilton: “He’s at the stage of his career and his life where he’s going to be unfiltered, and he was pretty unhappy with what happened.

“He said on the radio that they’ve given Charles the win today with just that five-second penalty, and it’s definitely worth cutting a few corners, getting out front. You make a lot more than five seconds.

“But the big story is it didn’t give a Ferrari driver the win at all. It gave Max Verstappen the victory as it happened.

“It wasn’t the smartest move in Charles’s career and life. Trying to go around the outside of Turn 4, that was a 75-25 against move against your teammate. It just wasn’t a smart move.

“Lewis has realised, here’s a chance to actually make a bit of ground on this, because that was a bit silly.

“But, you know, I was thinking about this in the week. When I first was in Formula 1, I think we had 40 people in the team. Now there are 2,000 people in the team.

“You’ve got this situation where they say you’re representing 2,000 people, and it’s true. But you’re in Formula 1.

“As an individual sports person, you’re measured as an individual sports person in a team environment.

“Now that team’s 2,000 people, and it’s almost becoming impossible.

“I think we saw the same with Lando [Norris] and Oscar [Piastri]. Where do you stand as a driver. I think this is a new challenge, on where do I really stand here.

“You can’t just keep criticising me for racing for myself just because I’m in a team. It actually doesn’t work, does it, if you think about it.”

Brundle doubled down on his belief that Hamilton is using this Leclerc spat to strengthen his pursuit of “number one” status within the Scuderia.

“I stand by what I said. I think Lewis has realised there’s a really good platform to carve himself out more of a number one spot there, more clout in that situation. He’s not going to let that go.

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“And that comment, when he got out of the car during the red flag, of, ‘We’ve got big problems here, big problems,’ that wasn’t to anybody around in Mexico. That was to some people in Italy.”

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur confirmed that the talks which Hamilton was pushing for took place on Thursday night at Interlagos. The guidelines remain the same.

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