Lewis Hamilton may adjust his approach when racing the younger drivers after the incident with Charles Leclerc at the Italian GP.
While the Monegasque thrilled the Ferrari fans with a first home win at Monza since 2010, it came with a touch of fortune following a close call with the Mercedes driver into the Roggia chicane.
Moving over towards the racing line, Leclerc eased Hamilton marginally off the track forcing him to take the escape road, had circumstances been different though the Briton claimed he might not have been so lenient with the 21-year-old.
“I wouldn’t have moved. We would have collided,” he told Crash.net.
Leclerc was shown the black and white flag for the incident, a warning dubbed as F1’s ‘yellow card’, but many drew comparisons between Sunday and Max Verstappen’s five-second penalty for a similar move on Valtteri Bottas last year.
“I think there’s two parts to that,” FIA race director Michael Masi said explaining the call. “One, there was contact last year with Max, so that’s one part of it.
“[Pierre] Gasly, for a very similar incident in Spa, received the bad sportsmanship flag, so in that case, there was no contact and it was, if you use the analogy, it was the professional foul, so it was Charles’ warning.”
Also Read:
- Leclerc will maintain more aggressive approach should stewards allow it
- Hamilton wants ‘consistency’ as Mercedes hint Leclerc got lucky at Monza
- Raikkonen welcomes return of black and white flag to F1
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff expressed fears, however, that any easing of the strict driving standards could be problematic.
“They [the stewards] are in a very difficult situation, to come up with the right decisions, that are not always clear cut,” he said via GPFans.
“The racing was very hard, maybe over the line, and Lewis I think was instrumental in not making it an incident.
“[With less penalties] there will be more cars touching. It will be more of a common practice,” the Austrian added.
“In my opinion, it’s going to go to the point that it will end up again in a collision, and then we’re going to bail out of it again, or crawl back. Until then, we let them race.”
Hamilton though did indicate that when he has less on the line, he may just meet Leclerc and others at their own game.
“There is zero issue between us and I think he did an exceptional job today and I don’t have any problems with it,” he said. “It is what it is.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone or him but if we have a moment together we might chat for a second. Just to reverse roles and make sure he is cool if he is in that position when that happens.
“If he’s cool with that then that’s how we will be racing, there is no issue. From what I knew going into the race I was supposed to leave a gap and now I don’t know if that’s the case as it is unsure over the rules.
“But it is good that we are able to race as hard as we want to. We all want to race harder and today was a tough battle which was good.”
