Hamilton calls for 'rules of engagement' at Ferrari: 'At Mercedes, we had it written'

Hamilton ultimately finished P6 at Ferrari's home race, struggling for grip throughout the 53-lap race, with both McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finishing ahead of him. Things were even worse for Leclerc, who crashed on Lap 2 of the Italian GP at Parabolica.

The Monegasque thankfully got out of his SF-26 after the incident, and was later dismissed by the medical centre at Monza, but has also said he'll need further checks to ensure he is fit and ready for the Spanish GP next weekend amid blurry vision to his right eye.

Speaking after the race, Hamilton was critical of his Lap 1 battle with Leclerc. He told GPblog, among others: "It was very bad for the team and obviously, put us way back in positions. And then I just tried to reset and I was like, 'okay, try and catch up' and then obviously we had to stop but I think we've put the wrong tyres on, probably."

Following Kimi Antonelli's sensational victory at Monza, Hamilton now sits 76 points behind the Italian in the Drivers' title, Ferrari also now trail the Silver Arrows by 122 points, on a weekend the seven-time world champion called on his team to work together to have any hope of catching Mercedes.

Asked whether Ferrari fans should be concerned about a potential falling out between himself and Leclerc, Hamilton was quick to deflect any blame. He replied: "Look, you know,, I don't race dirty. I've I've always raced clean and fairly and always left space. And so I don't think they should be worried about me. I mean, I've come into the team and tried to be respectful of space and definitely not put the team in jeopardy.

To conclude, Hamilton then made a pointed comparison to his former team Mercedes, who famously issued 'rules of engagement' between himself and Nico Rosberg in their tense fights for championships in the mid-2010s. The Briton lamented that, at Ferrari, there are seemingly no such rules.

Hamilton said: "It comes down to rules of engagement. And when I was at Mercedes, we had a written rules of engagement. So we never really had it too bad. There was a moment maybe with me and Nico a couple of times, but more often than not it was good. Here, there are no rules, and I think that's something that we need to try and fix."