Ferrari’s Nightmare Sunday at Monza Despite the Schumacher Tribute: Leclerc Crashes, Hamilton Row

Ferrari’s home weekend at Monza, dedicated to Michael Schumacher’s legacy, turned into one of the team’s toughest disappointments of the season, despite the special livery worn by the cars in the legend’s honour.

The trouble started on the very first lap, when Lewis Hamilton launched an aggressive move down the inside of his teammate Charles Leclerc at Turn 1. Leclerc held the inside line through the Turn 2 chicane, which pushed Hamilton onto the gravel at the exit – the Briton dropped from fourth to tenth. The situation got worse still on lap two, when Leclerc himself crashed and retired from the race, triggering a red flag.

After the race, Hamilton didn’t hold back his criticism of the atmosphere within the team: “When I was at Mercedes, we had written rules of engagement for close battles. Here there are no rules. We need to sort that out,” he said, pointing to a lack of internal protocol at Ferrari.

Leclerc, for his part, admitted his share of the blame for the incident: “It’s true, though, that we went too far. I think Lewis at Turn 1, and then me at Turn 2, tried to make the corner as tight as possible, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Expert opinion was split – Nico Rosberg sided with Hamilton, pointing out that he was ahead of Leclerc at Turn 2 and should have been given more room, while Martin Brundle defended Leclerc, arguing that he was far enough ahead at the apex and that Hamilton’s tight squeeze was natural for a first lap.

In the end, Hamilton finished sixth, while Leclerc ended the race without points. Kimi Antonelli’s win from 19th on the grid further extended the championship leader’s advantage over Hamilton to 76 points – a painful ending to a weekend that was meant to be a celebration for Ferrari and a tribute to Michael Schumacher.