Vasseur clears the air with Hamilton and Leclerc after Ferrari's costly Mexico clash

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has held joint talks with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in Sao Paulo, telling both drivers the team’s interests must take priority after their first-lap clash at the Mexican Grand Prix handed Max Verstappen a victory Ferrari had been well-placed to claim.

Hamilton and Leclerc collided while fighting for the lead on lap one in Mexico City, with both going off track. Hamilton lost a position to Verstappen in the process, while Leclerc received a penalty and also surrendered the lead to the Red Bull driver. Verstappen won the race, Hamilton finished second, and Leclerc was fourth — a result Vasseur described as a collective failure that demanded an immediate response.

“For sure, in this situation, we failed collectively because we were one and two and we didn’t win the race at the end,” Vasseur said. “That means that it’s clear that we failed and we have to react.”

Hamilton had been particularly vocal after the race, lobbying for a harsher penalty for Leclerc and demanding formal discussions about how aggressively his team-mate was racing him. Vasseur, meanwhile, expressed frustration at what he saw as a lack of respect towards Ferrari’s 2,000-strong workforce.

Speaking to media ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix, Vasseur said the message delivered in Thursday’s meeting was unambiguous. “The guidelines are always the same. They are two competitors with a fighting spirit for sure, but they need to have respect for each other,” he said. “But mainly and firstly, they need to respect the brand, the team, the people working at home, the people working on track.”

On Hamilton’s claim that Leclerc races him harder than he races other drivers, Vasseur pointed to Leclerc’s celebrated overtake on Verstappen in Austin as evidence that the Monégasque driver’s aggression is not reserved solely for his team-mate. “If you have a look at what Charles did in Austin in the first sector, everybody said that it was magic,” Vasseur said. “The line is fine between the two. But he didn’t crash into the other car.”

The Mexico result was a significant missed opportunity for Ferrari, who had entered the weekend with genuine title ambitions still alive. The team now heads to Brazil needing both drivers to channel their competitive instincts in the same direction rather than against each other.