Hamilton frustrated by Leclerc’s ‘do or die’ mentality

Lewis Hamilton admits he was left “pissed” by Ferrari’s failure to win the Mexico City Grand Prix, and criticized what he describes as a “do or die” attitude from teammate Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari was in a great position on the opening lap of the race on Sunday as Hamilton led away from pole and Leclerc managed to pass George Russell for second place. After attacking his teammate into Turn 1, Leclerc had slotted in behind Hamilton out of Turn 3 but then tried to attack again at Turn 4, going off track around the outside of the corner while Hamilton also went deep to lose position to Max Verstappen, who would go on to win after Leclerc was penalized.

“I don't know what needs to happen now, how we discuss things when we go back,” Hamilton said. “I'm not quite sure how I want to engage in that. Of course, the frustrations are today. 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. 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.

“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. We've just got to figure it out, but something needs to change for sure.”

Hamilton says he has seen a similar approach from Leclerc when it comes to fighting with his teammates in the past, and cited a race earlier this year – that Leclerc ultimately won – where the seven-time world champion took a different approach when the roles were reversed.

“Before I joined this team, when I was at Mercedes, I watched and witnessed the back and forth between Charles and Carlos [Sainz] several races, where they were battling so much that the person ahead just pulled away, and they had the pace to actually win,” he said. “But it is one thing when that's happening in fourth and fifth, as opposed to first and second, and you lose the win. That's significant.

“The guy is 28 years old, so I don't think it's an age thing. I think it's a mentality thing. It's like, ‘Do or die. Either I win or none of us do,’ and it shouldn't be that. It should be us having, getting that one-two.

“You know, Silverstone, I could have gone all kamikaze on him and taken him off and lost us the win, but instead the one-two was there. I think we got the one-two. Was it one-three, first and third, one-two? Whatever. For me, I'm happy for the team to have experienced that, but I'm hopeful we'll work towards a better place, a better working place, in the future.”