Ferrari have no rules, claims Hamilton, who doubts Leclerc would respect them anyway

Lewis Hamilton had already called on the Scuderia to rethink its approach to intra-team battles after the Italian Grand Prix. His pleas fell on deaf ears. The battle with Leclerc in Mexico, which cost Ferrari the chance of a one-two finish, is proof of that. Hamilton is once again highlighting the lack of internal rules.

Ferrari is not just fighting its rivals this season, but all too often itself as well. Sometimes that stems from an overly relaxed approach from the management and strategists, who allow Leclerc and Hamilton to cost each other valuable time.

Take the recent race in Singapore, for example, where Hamilton was the first to change tyres. Leclerc’s stop was delayed for a long time. Ferrari eventually timed the Monegasque’s pit stop so clumsily that he rejoined just ahead of Hamilton, only narrowly avoiding an undercut that had been on the cards for five laps. Had Maranello anticipated the situation and called Leclerc in a lap earlier, Hamilton would not have lost two and a half seconds.

Something similar happened at Zandvoort. Hamilton was clearly much faster than Leclerc in the second stint, but inaction from the pit wall left him stuck behind for three laps. Neither requests nor pleas helped. Ferrari seemingly panicked in the end, coming up with a compromise that served neither driver. Rather than ordering Leclerc to let his team-mate through, it called him into the pits, sealing his fate in the battle with Russell. Stopping so early did not help him build a sufficient tyre advantage.

On other occasions, the drivers themselves were to blame. The tifosi had grounds to criticise Leclerc for his overly aggressive defence after the start at Monza, where he forced Hamilton into the gravel and cost him several positions.

There was also the intra-team battle between the Ferrari drivers in China, which may have looked entertaining on television but allowed Antonelli to pull out of overtaking mode range. Later in the race, Russell capitalised on their squabbling and picked them both off. Ferrari had only one way of staying ahead of him: working together.

There have been countless similar situations in recent months, but as they had not yet cost the Scuderia a victory, they were not as glaring as in Mexico. The positive is that Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur, who had previously seemed to turn a blind eye to the criticism, has finally shown some justified anger too. It is a shame that he was one of the few who failed to see where it was all heading, and that it took a lost one-two to open his eyes.

Why does Ferrari still have no rules of engagement?

Lewis Hamilton wants to use this opportunity to finally make his team see sense. After his experience at Monza, however, he is hardly brimming with optimism. “I don’t know what needs to happen now, how we discuss things when we go back. I’m not quite sure how I want to engage in that.”

“Of course, the frustrations are today,” admitted the seven-time champion. “I’m happy because this guy [Kimi Antonelli] just won the championship, so I’m really torn because, on one side, I’m happy, and on the other side, I’m really pissed. We lost valuable points, and we, as a team, worked so hard. We could have easily had a one-two today. Really, we had the pace to do so.”

Hamilton would have preferred Leclerc to be patient on the opening lap and try to make something happen later in the grand prix, once they were no longer under threat from the drivers behind. “We’re going into Turn 4 first and second. If we just hold position, I think anything can happen in the race. But when your teammate works against you and then you lose positions like that, it’s definitely tough.”

Ferrari should finally establish some rules of engagement. Following Hamilton’s criticism that none exist at Ferrari, Leclerc suggested they were not even necessary. “The rules of engagement, I think it’s kind of clear that we never want to see a car on the same team in the grass. After reviewing, we spoke with Lewis. I obviously know I went too far in Turn 2 and I said it to Lewis. I think it’s very clear what we should do or should avoid going forward.”

Clearly, it is not quite that clear. Hamilton believes written rules, like those he had during his time at Mercedes, could help. As time goes on, however, even he is losing hope that Leclerc would be willing to follow them. There must, after all, be a reason why no such rules were drawn up after the Italian Grand Prix. If both drivers agreed, the management would have no reason whatsoever not to grant their wish.

“So, we’ll just talk about it offline, and it’s not really worth saying too much more. We don’t have rules of engagement, and whether or not that will change anything from Charles’ side, I don’t know,” sighed Hamilton. “We’ve just got to figure it out, but something needs to change for sure.”