There may be nothing notably new in the best way Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton performed themselves on and off the observe on Sunday, both within the historical past of Method 1 or motorsport extra usually.
Clashes between team-mates have, in some circumstances, reached ranges of rigidity that make what occurred between the 2 Ferrari drivers at Monza look comparatively minor. However on this specific case, one thing doesn’t fairly add up. Maybe there’s something we’re lacking – as a result of in any other case it stays obscure.
The nice clashes of the previous between team-mates thought to be “high drivers” have at all times had a transparent goal.
Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Hamilton: all of those pairings grew to become fierce rivals after they had a automotive able to combating for the world championship – when, in different phrases, success depended nearly totally on their capability to beat the motive force on the opposite facet of the storage.
Take the newest instance. In 2013, Hamilton’s first yr at Mercedes, the automotive allowed Lewis to win one race, whereas Rosberg ended the season with two victories. The W04 was not a championship-winning automotive, and the connection between the 2 Mercedes drivers remained glorious. The next season, with the arrival of Mercedes’ formidable first hybrid energy unit, issues modified dramatically.
All of the sudden, the most important prize was at stake, and the pair went from consuming pizza collectively in Monaco to an intense sporting rivalry that prolonged nicely past the observe.
With Leclerc and Hamilton, the motive is a thriller.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Foto di: Sam Bloxham / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures
It’s value stressing that what has occurred between the Ferrari drivers isn’t akin to the examples above. No matter Ferrari could say publicly about its ambitions – not least to maintain motivation excessive each on the observe and on the manufacturing unit – it’s tough to significantly imagine that its drivers are at present combating for the world title. The numbers say so, as does the story of this season.
Neither is there a future to safe or contractual standing to battle for. Each have the identical alternatives, and each have their 2027 plans lengthy since settled. And each, in spite of everything, are paid handsomely sufficient to make a joke heard within the Monza paddock yesterday reasonably inappropriate: no, that is undoubtedly not a case of two folks combating over crumbs.
And that final level is essential: in the end, each are paid by Ferrari to ship for Ferrari. They’re established drivers, from whom you’ll count on an strategy that at all times takes the workforce’s pursuits under consideration – notably after they do not have a automotive able to making a world championship battle a practical prospect.
Hamilton spent the entire of 2025 swallowing his frustration, unable to supply the extent of efficiency that his team-mate persistently delivered. Having rediscovered his tempo, he’s most likely having fun with the prospect to show a number of factors – to everybody, Leclerc included.
Leclerc, in the meantime, noticed his standing develop significantly final yr after persistently outperforming the seven-time world champion. Simply 12 months later, the state of affairs has modified, with Hamilton now comfortably forward of him within the championship standings.
However the necessity to show your self towards your team-mate is often extra urgent within the midfield, the place one podium can outline an entire season and a driver’s future isn’t assured. Beating your team-mate at any value could also be a precedence for somebody combating to maintain their seat – not for 2 established stars whose futures are already safe.
Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari
Picture by: Eric Le Galliot
Now the ball is in Fred Vasseur’s court docket. Ferrari’s workforce principal met each drivers in his workplace at Monza earlier than the race, nevertheless it seems a second assembly could also be required.
The precept is easy: the pursuits of the workforce should come earlier than particular person ambitions. Particularly when the prize they’re combating for isn’t a world championship.
A rivalry might be an asset when it pushes a workforce in direction of success. However when there is no such thing as a world championship at stake and it begins working towards the pursuits of the workforce, it turns into nothing greater than one other drawback – and Ferrari already has sufficient of these.
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