Hamilton calls for 'serious talks' at Ferrari after Leclerc clash costs Mexico win

Lewis Hamilton has called for "serious talks" inside Ferrari after his first-lap clash with team-mate Charles Leclerc turned the Mexico City Grand Prix into a damage-limitation exercise. The polesitter finished second, eight tenths behind Max Verstappen, while Leclerc's afternoon unravelled from the moment the stewards intervened.

Why it matters:

Ferrari arrived in Mexico with a car quick enough to win, so the fall-out is now as much about internal politics as outright pace. Hamilton's radio messages — first "he should just give the place back", then "the stewards are basically handing Charles this win" — painted the picture of a driver convinced his own team let a victory slip away.

The details:

• Leclerc attacked Hamilton around the outside of Turn 4 on the opening lap. Both cars ran off the track, Leclerc cut across Turn 5 and kept the lead, while Hamilton lost momentum and was swallowed by Verstappen.
• The stewards opted for a five-second penalty rather than ordering Leclerc to hand the position back — partly because ceding to Hamilton would also have meant releasing Verstappen into the lead.
• Hamilton questioned the consistency of the ruling: "In the drivers' briefing we discussed, as soon as you go off in Turn 1, you have to give the position back. Last year, I got a 10-second penalty for that same move."
• Leclerc's race then collapsed anyway, with a 6.3-second slower pit stop and a flat-spot at the second start following Valtteri Bottas's red-flag crash.

What's next:

Hamilton, running Ferrari's older power unit this weekend, expects a fresh engine for 2027 and insists he has "100% faith" in Maranello. He will need it: he watched Kimi Antonelli wrap up the title in Mexico in the Mercedes seat he vacated, ending the year as F1's youngest champion.