Vasseur Concedes Ferrari Driver Clash at Italian Grand Prix Harmful to Team

Fred Vasseur conceded that the opening-lap clash between his Ferrari drivers at the Italian Grand Prix was harmful to the team following a difficult weekend for the Scuderia.

Charles Leclerc defended aggressively against Lewis Hamilton on the first lap after both started from the second row. The Monegasque refused to concede the position, forcing Hamilton wide at the exit of Turn 2 and into the gravel, dropping the Mercedes driver to 10th.

“I spoke to Lewis for two seconds and not at all with Charles,” Vasseur said in his post-race media session. “We’ll have time to discuss that later. I prefer to speak with them first rather than with you. The outcome at Turn 1-2 was certainly not good for the team, if that’s the question.”

Ferrari has been reluctant to ban intra-team battles this season despite calls for team orders to back Hamilton’s title bid, given he was the closest Ferrari driver to Mercedes. Vasseur viewed any such call as premature, leaving the policy unchanged before Monza.

He did, however, hint that such a call could come at some point.

“Now, to see if we [need to] have a team order or whatever, I think that the good comparison that I made was that last year,” he said. “Piastri was leading McLaren at this stage of the season and if McLaren put everything on Piastri, Max Verstappen would have been champion.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

“For sure, at one stage you have to take a decision, but I think it was too early to take a decision before Monza. Now I will have time to discuss with the guys.”

“For a team, it’s never good to lose points. This is clear. Now, basically at the beginning of the season, I think every single team principal in the world would love to let them race. To freeze positions when you are the team principal, don’t imagine that it’s an easy choice. You do it for the team, you do it for the results at the end, but it’s never an easy call.”

“By definition, I would love to let them race all the weekend. Now, by reason, you have to take a decision at one stage. Each team is different. We will have to take a decision when we’ll decide.”

Leclerc, who retired early after crashing at Parabolica, admitted the incident was not what the team needed, saying “we went too far.”

Hamilton responded: “I was ahead in Turn 2, by the apex, I was ahead. There was no we in it.”

Following Kimi Antonelli’s victory at Monza, Hamilton sits 76 points behind the Italian in the standings. Ferrari trails Mercedes by 122 points in the constructors’ championship.

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