Rosberg Criticizes Hamilton’s Reaction to Leclerc Clash
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc collided during the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix, prompting the seven-time World Champion to criticize his teammate’s mindset.
Tensions rose within Ferrari during the 71-lap contest at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday.
Leclerc attempted an aggressive maneuver against Hamilton, who was battling eventual race winner Max Verstappen, resulting in a five-second penalty for the Monegasque.
Post-race, Hamilton questioned Leclerc’s mentality, implying he sacrificed a potential 1-2 opportunity for Ferrari due to personal ambition.
Rosberg, who experienced a fierce rivalry with Hamilton at Mercedes between 2013 and 2016, argues the Briton has too often avoided blame regarding his teammate.
“Interestingly, it’s always Charles’ fault, isn’t it? It’s never Lewis’s fault,” Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.
“In the last couple of times, in Monza it was Charles, here it was Charles. Really Fred Vasseur, he needs to start to act.”
Rosberg argues that Ferrari requires formal rules of engagement.
Rosberg proposes written rules of engagement for Ferrari following the F1 Mexico GP clash.
Hamilton previously noted this season that the team lacked clear guidelines for internal battles after his incident with Leclerc at Monza.
The Ferrari driver echoed these sentiments in Mexico, leading Rosberg to recommend a strategic shift by the Scuderia to manage two volatile drivers.
“Once again, as Lewis said before the race, there was no discussion. Like clear racing guidelines between the two. It needs to happen, otherwise it’s going to keep going like this,” he added.
“It gets really bad when the drivers take it in their own hands and disregard whatever has been discussed and just take it in their own hands and sort it out on track and barge the other guy out the way. That can very quickly happen and it’s already kind of happening.
“On the first wheel-to-wheel that they had at Turns 2 and 3, Charles was bouncing over the kerb into Lewis, he was not holding the line. So already that was too much from Charles.”
Approaching the race weekend at Interlagos, Ferrari holds second place in the Constructors’ standings.
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton makes Fred Vasseur claim amid Ferrari Mexico fallout
