Hamilton says Leclerc races him harder than rival drivers

Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari still needs further internal discussions to settle its rules of engagement, after backing suggestions that team-mate Charles Leclerc races him harder than he does drivers from rival outfits, according to Autosport.

The comments follow a fraught opening lap at last weekend's Mexico City Grand Prix, where Hamilton and Leclerc collided wheel to wheel as they fought for the race lead.

Hamilton had forced Leclerc wide through the Turn 1 complex, before the pair went toe to toe again moments later under braking for Turn 4, with neither prepared to give ground.

Both drivers missed the apex as a result, and Leclerc chose not to hand the position back despite the clear chance that a penalty would follow, reported Yahoo Sports.

The confusion in the gravel allowed Red Bull's Max Verstappen to sweep past a frustrated Hamilton, a moment that ultimately proved decisive in the fight for victory.

Leclerc accepted afterwards that the sanction he picked up was justified, telling reporters: "Yes, I mean, the penalty was deserved in a way."

He added: "The thing is that it was a bit confusing because we both didn't make Turn 4. Then I stayed ahead, and then Max got past Lewis."

He explained that keeping the position, rather than ceding it back to Hamilton immediately, was a calculated call made with his pit wall once the penalty looked inevitable.

"Then I asked what should I do, and I kept the position. I took a deserved penalty," Leclerc said. "I don't know if Lewis's point was for me to get P3, but at least having a Red Bull second, I felt it was worth it to kind of keep the position and see what happens. That's what I did."

The penalty was not the only setback for Leclerc on what had otherwise been a promising afternoon. A red flag on lap 45 forced a second standing start, and Leclerc lined up on the dustier side of the grid.

He lost further ground there, with Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli executing what Leclerc called a clinical move to take third place from him.

"The pace was really good on the first stint, and the pace overall, I think, was quite strong, but unfortunately, coming the second start on the dirty side of the track, we struggled quite a bit," Leclerc said. "The track wasn't so clean, but it's the way it is."

Hamilton was audibly frustrated over team radio in the aftermath of the Turn 4 incident, pressing his pit wall for an explanation in the moment.

Asked whether he intended to address the clash with Hamilton privately, Leclerc showed no inclination to apologise for the intensity of the fight, instead pointing to Hamilton's own aggression at the first corner.

"Well, I'll speak with Lewis," Leclerc said. "I could be also unhappy with how much he pushed me off the track out of Turn 1, but I think it's racing. When you are fighting for a win, it's the way it should be."

Hamilton's public backing of the view that Leclerc races him harder than he does other rivals suggests the episode will not simply be waved away as a racing incident, and Ferrari now faces the task of clarifying its internal boundaries before the two team-mates are next put side by side on track.