Charles Leclerc had admitted his fault over the first-lap tangle between the Ferrari drivers in the Italian Grand Prix.
He and team mate Lewis Hamilton went into the Rettifilo chicane on the first lap side-by-side. Leclerc forced Hamilton wide into a gravel trap at the exit of the corner, which cost his team mate six positions.
Having reviewed the incident after the race, Leclerc admitted he should have left more room for Hamilton’s car.
“The turn two incident is not something we ever want to see again,” he said. “Obviously, reviewing the images, it’s pretty clear that I could have done a better job just slowing down the car and not putting Lewis in a difficult situation. So this is something I can learn from for sure, but we’ve already spoken with Lewis.!
Leclerc, who crashed heavily on the second lap of the race, said he has cleared the air with Hamilton since Sunday.
“It’s Formula 1, there’s always going to be some kind of tension,” he said. “However I feel like we have a very, very good relationship with Lewis, we’ve always had it.
“Of course there are moments where our motivation makes us want to win or at least to finish as high up as possible and sometimes you just have got to set that motivation a bit down, which was the case for me in Monza, and speak about it.
“When you speak about, it again, we have a very good relationship. The only thing is that obviously driving for such an iconic team, Ferrari, and then in Monza as well, things are taking proportions that I would have hoped it didn’t take. But is the way it is and and we’ve got to live with it and manage it in the best possible way.”
Hamilton indicated he is happy with how the team handled the situation.
“I think we’ve got a good racing relationship and I think the fact that we are grown-ups and are able to communicate with each other, which we have. I’m really firstly happy that he’s really healthy and he’s back here this weekend because we need him in the fight to challenge Mercedes together.
“The great thing I think, there is all this discussion about communication and just execution and stuff, but the communication between John [Elkann, group CEO] and Benedetto [Vigna, Ferrari CEO], and Fred [Vasseur, team principal] and his drivers [is] really great. We all sit down and talk afterwards and squash it and move on. So nothing lingers, we’re just looking forward to how we can work better together.”
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2026 Italian Grand Prix
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