Four days after a Ferrari one-two in Mexico City dissolved into a lap-one crash and a public row, Lewis Hamilton has chosen a strikingly counterintuitive line of defence: things were worse at the team where he won six of his seven world titles.

Speaking to RacingNews365 ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the Briton waved away suggestions that friction with Charles Leclerc is becoming a problem.

“I’ve had way worse times at Mercedes,” Hamilton told the outlet, adding that he does not see a meaningful gap between how the two teams have handled internal clashes.

The reference needs no footnote for anyone who followed his years alongside Nico Rosberg, when a title fight between teammates spilled into collisions, cold handshakes and a full-blown management problem for Toto Wolff.

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A collision that gifted Verstappen the win

Ferrari had locked out the front of the pack on the opening lap of the Mexico City Grand Prix on 1 November when Leclerc tried to go around the outside of Hamilton into Turn 4. Both drivers ran wide; Leclerc cut across the grass and emerged in the lead.

Stewards handed Leclerc a five-second time penalty, half the usual sanction for passing off-track. The FIA noted in mitigation that Hamilton had also run off the inside of the corner and that the incident happened on the opening lap.

Max Verstappen capitalised, took the lead and won. Hamilton finished second, Leclerc fourth.

Leclerc later accepted the stewards’ call. “The penalty was deserved in a way,” he said, while maintaining that neither driver could realistically have made the corner.

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Vasseur: ‘a matter of respect’

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was less philosophical. In comments reported by Motorsport.com, he rejected Leclerc’s suggestion that the layout of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was partly to blame.

“The layout of the track is not helping, but it can’t be an excuse at all,” Vasseur said, pointing out that a one-two into Turn 4 should not end anywhere other than at the finish line in that order.

The Frenchman went further in separate remarks, framing the clash as a failure of professional conduct toward the team, the sponsors and the roughly 2,000 people on Ferrari’s payroll in Maranello. He called it a lack of respect, and said he expects the message to land before Interlagos.

Hamilton described Vasseur as “nervous” in a conversation shortly before lights out in Mexico City, saying his team boss simply wanted both cars to finish well.

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Interlagos next

The drivers return to the cockpit at Interlagos on Sunday, 8 November, for the 71-lap Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace. Qualifying is on Saturday; the weekend runs the traditional format with no sprint.

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