Vasseur calls Hamilton-Leclerc clash 'a matter of respect' after Ferrari squander Mexico 1-2

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur publicly rebuked both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc after the pair threw away a certain 1-2 finish at the Mexico City Grand Prix, with Vasseur declaring the incident “a matter of respect” rather than a racing misfortune.

Hamilton had taken Ferrari’s first pole position of the 2026 season — their most favourable grid since 2024 — with Leclerc starting third. When front-row starter George Russell lost momentum into Turn 1, Leclerc challenged his team-mate and the pair ran side by side through Turn 4. Leclerc moved ahead at the apex on the outside but both cars ran deep, leaving the track and surrendering the lead to Max Verstappen. Hamilton was unable to reclaim the position from the eventual race winner, while Leclerc was handed a five-second penalty for the lasting advantage he retained by cutting Turn 5, eventually finishing fourth.

Vasseur made no attempt to hide his disappointment. “When you are 1-2 at Turn 4, you don’t imagine that you won’t win the race,” he said. “It’s a lot of frustration for me, but I’m not the most important — it’s a lot of frustration for the 2,000 people working for the project. And this I will need time to digest.”

Leclerc suggested the track layout bore some responsibility, arguing that circuits should not permit the kind of grey areas that led to the incident. Vasseur flatly rejected that reasoning. “The layout of the track, for sure it’s not helping, because if you have a look the last couple of years we had this kind of issue, but it can’t be an excuse at all,” he said.

When asked whether he needed to hold pre-race talks with his drivers about positioning, Vasseur was direct. “We can discuss ages for this, but it’s not a matter to discuss before if you are on the right-hand side, if you are on the left-hand side. It’s my only discussion — it’s a matter of respect.”

The Mexico clash is not an isolated incident between the two Ferrari drivers this season. At the Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton ended up in the gravel at the start after Leclerc left him insufficient room, an outcome the stewards deemed within official racing guidelines. Vasseur expanded on what he expects from both men going forward, stressing that neither driver should be prioritising personal objectives over the team. “This is typically what means respect — that they are not working for themselves, they are working for a group, they are working for a lot of sponsors, they are working for the 2,000 people of the company.”

Ferrari had shown genuine pace improvement over recent rounds, making the self-inflicted nature of the result all the more costly for a team still chasing its first constructors’ title in over a decade.