Hamilton and Leclerc don't think there's an unwritten rule on out-lap run-ups

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have walked back Max Verstappen's "unwritten rule" comment regarding his second run in Q3 of qualifying, as both Hamilton and Leclerc think there is no such thing when it comes to out-laps.

At the penultimate corner before starting his second hot-lap in Q3 in Shanghai, Verstappen got passed by Sebastian Vettel at the hairpin, and by both Renaults after that in the run-up to the final corner, where you would normally start to accelerate to full speed.

Verstappen wasn't capable of doing so in time because of the passing cars, leaving him without a second run in Q3 and with a P5 starting position. He wasn't pleased with this in the mixed zone afterwards, claiming it's an unwritten rule for drivers on out-laps to stay behind each other. Hamilton disagreed quickly when he was asked if there was such a thing as this unwritten rule. "Nope," he told RaceFans.

Charles Leclerc expanded on it a bit more, although his answer boiled down to the same as Hamilton's.

“To be completely honest you cannot have an agreement about not overtaking on the out-lap because different teams have different strategies with the tyres,” the Monegasque analysed.

“Basically we need to follow what we are told so it’s not possible, unfortunately.”

Verstappen's former teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who was piloting one of the cars that passed the Dutchman, thinks it was a consequence of the drivers leaving it too late in Q3 to start their runs.

“I think everyone just left it too tight. People got screwed because, I guess, we left it tight. You had to do what you had to do. Normally there is some etiquette but that went out the window with how tight it was.”