Carlos Sainz has drawn on his four years as Charles Leclerc’s teammate at Ferrari to downplay any lingering tension between Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton following their collision at the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
Sainz and Leclerc were evenly matched during their stint together at the Scuderia from 2021 to 2024, with Sainz accumulating 900.5 points to Leclerc’s 1,029. That parity occasionally sparked on-track friction, such as at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix where Sainz accused the Monegasque of complaining too much
after contact while overtaking in Barcelona. However, the pair always resolved disagreements internally, a dynamic Sainz believes Leclerc and Hamilton must now replicate.
Sainz: Conflict Is Normal Between Competitive Teammates
Speaking in Madrid on Thursday, Sainz emphasized that clashes are inevitable when two top drivers share a garage.
It’s none of my business, but I can tell you that when you have two competitive team-mates, these kind of situations are always going to happen.
Me with Charles, always twice, two or three times a year, we always had a bit of a discussion or an argument, but after the race or the morning after we would call each other and sort it out.
So yeah, I think it’s normal when you’re fighting for podiums or wins in a competitive team and there’s situations into turn one or situations fighting the race or with strategy, you always end up one day being not happy with the way it’s been handled and the next day maybe you’ve been favoured.
It’s always the same case and I don’t know the way it’s being handled right now, but when I was there in Ferrari with Charles, we would always sort it out among each other and we would get on with it and yeah, we had a good time.
Monza Collision: Diverging Accounts
At Monza, Leclerc forced Hamilton into the gravel at the start, allowing Leclerc to retain third while Hamilton dropped to tenth after crashing at Parabolica on lap two. Post-race, Leclerc accepted shared blame, claiming we went too far
, but Hamilton firmly rejected that narrative.
I was ahead in Turn 2, by the apex I was ahead, there was no ‘we’ in it.
Hamilton expanded on his perspective, defending his racing ethics and pointing to team leadership.
Look, I don’t race dirty,
he added at Monza. I’ve always raced clean and fairly and always left space.
I’ve come into the team and tried to be respectful of space and definitely not put the team in jeopardy. I stand by that and all I can talk about is on my side. You have to speak to Fred [Vasseur, team principal] about the other side and decisions that are taken there.
Ultimately it comes from the top. It trickles down, decisions. It starts with Fred. There’s only so much you can say, so much you can push and shout from the mountain top.
Yesterday, I said we’ve got to look at how we communicate. If we continue to travel the same path, we get the same result. We keep getting the same result.
Hamilton Questions Ferrari’s Rules of Engagement
The Monza incident is the latest flashpoint in a season where Hamilton has repeatedly criticized Ferrari’s operational execution. At Zandvoort, he was frustrated by a lack of team orders while running behind Leclerc, a scenario he felt cost him a podium finish. Ferrari now trails Mercedes by 122 points in the Constructors’ Championship.
Hamilton contrasted the current environment with his Mercedes tenure, where clear protocols governed teammate battles.
I think it comes down to rules of engagement,
said Hamilton in Italy. When I was at Mercedes, we had a written rule of engagement.
We never really had it too bad. Maybe moments with me and Nico [Rosberg] a couple of times. But more often than not it was good. Here, there are no rules.
