Charles Leclerc has conceded that his first-lap battle with Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix "went too far". The incident left Hamilton running through the gravel and complaining over team radio.
Starting from fourth, Hamilton attempted a move down the inside of Leclerc at the first chicane. The pair ran side-by-side, but Hamilton was forced wide on the exit, prompting him to tell his race engineer: "Charles pushed me off."
Reflecting on the clash, Leclerc—who retired after a crash on lap two—said: "I don't really know who is forcing that narrative that we are one against the other. At Zandvoort there were way too many talks already. Here it's true, though, that we went too far, I think, [with] Lewis in Turn 1. Then in Turn 2 I tried to do the tightest corner possible, but that was just not enough, and doing it here is not good."
The tension between the Ferrari drivers has been simmering. At Zandvoort, Hamilton voiced frustration over the team's failure to swap cars when he was on fresher tyres, later apologising. After qualifying at Monza, he again stressed the need to "work as a team" as title hopes fade.
Leclerc visited the medical centre after his Parabolica crash but was soon cleared. "The neck was OK, it was just the vision a little bit at first, the right eye was not showing me great vision, but now it's all good," he said.
Looking ahead to the Spanish GP at the new Madrid circuit, Leclerc plans additional checks to ensure full fitness. He also declined to blame Oscar Piastri for the crash, preferring to wait for data analysis to confirm the cause.
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