Every word of Lewis Hamilton's extraordinary interview slamming Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton verbally dismantled Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc following the Mexican Grand Prix, which saw Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli crowned the youngest-ever F1 world champion.

The 20-year-old Italian finished third behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Hamilton, clinching the title with several races to go in 2026.

Meanwhile, Hamilton, who started on pole, became embroiled in a tussle with Leclerc during the first lap of the race. The Brit later suggested it had cost the team victory in Mexico City.

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The pair’s tangle at Turn 4 resulted in the Monegasque being handed a five-second penalty for passing Hamilton off track. Instead of handing the position back to his teammate, though, Leclerc decided to keep going, which left Hamilton fuming. "Got pushed out by my own teammate," he said via team radio.

“The penalty was deserved in a way,” Leclerc, who finished fourth, admitted after the race.

“The thing is that it was a bit confusing because we both didn’t make Turn 4. Then I stayed ahead, and then Max got past Lewis. So, yeah, then I asked what should I do? And I kept the position and took a deserved penalty.”

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What did Lewis Hamilton say about Charles Leclerc?

Hamilton also spoke out after the race and accused Leclerc of “working against” him before claiming that similar situations would occur between the Ferrari duo “unless action is taken”.

When questioned about how Ferrari should deal with the situation, Hamilton replied: “I don’t know what needs to happen now. How we discuss things when we go back – I’m not quite sure how I want to engage in that force of frustrations of today.

“I’m happy because this guy [Antonelli] just won the championship, so I’m really torn because, on one side, I’m happy and, on the other side, I’m really pi**ed.

“We lost valuable points. We, as a team, worked so hard. We could have easily had a one-two today. We had the pace to do so.

“So we’re going into Turn 4, first and second. If we just held position, I think anything can happen in the race, but when your teammate works against you, and then you lose positions like that, it’s definitely tough.

“So we’ll just talk about it offline, and it’s not really worth saying too much more. We don’t have rules of engagement, and whether or not that will change anything from Charles’ side, I don’t know.

“We’ve just got to figure it out, but something needs to change, for sure.”

Of course, Hamilton has already been involved in similar in-team battles with George Russell and Nico Rosberg during his F1 career.

When asked if the situation involving himself and Leclerc was similar, he responded: “Not much different, I would say, from any of the others that I’ve been alongside.

“I think the core thing to remember, which maybe comes with age, is that every decision you make in the car impacts all the people who work in the background – the whole team.

“So working as a team is part of our job and part of our contract: we have to work as a team, which we could have easily done today.

“So it’s a shame to see us lose as we did, and that will just continue unless action is taken and a real, deep, serious conversation is had, so it shouldn’t happen moving forward.

“Of course, I’ve had close battles with teammates in the past, and we can’t always get it right. But nine times out of 10, we should be able to.

“So I think we’ll take it offline, and we’ll have some good convos. Hopefully, for sure, it won’t be easy, but it must be done.”

Hamilton added: "Before I joined this team, when I was in Mercedes, I watched and witnessed the back and forth between Charles and Carlos [Sainz] for several races where they were battling so much that the person ahead just pulled away, and they had the pace to actually win the race.

"But it's one thing when that's happening for fourth and fifth, as opposed to first and second, and you lose the win. That's significant.

"The guy's 28 years old, so I don't think it's an age thing. I think it's a mentality thing. It's like 'do or die. Like either I win or none of us do', and it shouldn't be that.

"It should be us getting that one-two because it's still a good feeling.

"Silverstone, I could have gone all kamikaze on him and taken him off and lost us the win but instead it was first and third.

"For me, I'm happy for the team to have experienced that. But I'm hopeful we'll work towards a better working place in the future."

F1 returns for the Brazilian Grand Prix on November 8.

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Formula 1 standings after Mexican GP

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) — 380 points
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) — 261 points
3. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) — 259 points
4. George Russell (Mercedes) — 250 points
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) — 245 points
6. Lando Norris (McLaren) — 221 points
7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) — 144 points
8. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) — 107 points
9. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) — 83 points
10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) — 42 points
11. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) — 38 points
12. Franco Colapinto (Alpine) — 27 points
13. Oliver Bearman (Haas) — 23 points
14. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) — 14 points
15. Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) — 13 points
16. Esteban Ocon (Haas) — 7 points
17. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) — 7 points
18. Carlos Sainz Jnr (Williams) — 7 points
19. Alexander Albon (Williams) — 5 points
20. Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) — 1 point
21. Ryo Hirakawa (Haas) — 1 point
22. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) — 0 points
23. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) — 0 points
24. Sergio Perez (Cadillac) — 0 points