Monza is still present
The Monza flop is still very much in the eyes of Ferrari fans and evidently also in those of the journalists who follow F1. It is therefore not surprising that many of the questions addressed to Lewis Hamilton at the traditional start-of-weekend press conference in Madrid concern precisely the events of the Italian GP and the controversial duel that saw him and Charles Leclerc opposed at the Prima Variante, with the Monegasque effectively sending his teammate into the gravel, causing him to lose several positions.
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“I spoke with Fred Vasseur on Monday and we had a frank and open discussion – Hamilton told the journalists present in the Ferrari motorhome for the traditional media meeting – of course we will always have different opinions, but in the end we find a meeting point and a path to follow together. I believe this is the positive aspect of the journey made in the last 15 months, or so. We have reached a point where internal communication is excellent and the same goes for the relationship between me and Charles. Duel on track between me and Leclerc? If you look at the history of this sport, it has happened before, so it is nothing serious,” Hamilton added.
No engagement rules, for now
The seven-time world champion also stood firm on the fact that there are no engagement rules within the team, while acknowledging that it is not the main issue on the agenda in the Ferrari garage: “Engagement rules? No, there weren’t any. Insisting with the team to have some in the future? At the moment I’m just trying to focus on having a better weekend than the last one. I’m sure that at some point we will discuss how we can improve, but we haven’t had much time to change course. You can’t change things in two days“.
Regarding hopes of winning the World Championship, Hamilton was very realistic: “Mathematically yes [it’s open], but it is the widest gap I have seen in a long time. At this point in the season, the reality is that Mercedes is in the lead. They are ahead and doing a fantastic job. I think we should simply focus on giving our best every weekend. That’s all we can do,” he concluded.
