One of the common denominators of Ferrari’s mid-season, besides not translating practice pace into qualifying, has been its drivers’ tendency to trip over one another on track.
More often, this has come in the form of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton not being as collaborative as they could be when they encounter each other on track while running on opposed strategies. But it has also involved points-scoring opportunities lost in a more direct manner, such as when Leclerc ushered Hamilton into the gravel trap on the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix.
Leclerc and Hamilton qualified fourth and fifth at the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), a track where the first corner – a sharp left at the top of the hill – is a notorious pinch point. Last year two of the championship protagonists, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, collided there at the start of the sprint race, handing title rival Max Verstappen a clear run to victory.
Fourth and fifth means the Ferrari drivers aren’t directly alongside one another on the grid, but they are still close enough to become entangled as the field squeezes into Turn 1 on the opening lap. Motorsport.com understands that, after the Italian GP incident, team boss Frederic Vasseur held private clear-the-air talks between the two drivers. But, speaking after qualifying in Austin, Leclerc insisted that there have been no specific rules laid down for what happens at COTA’s Turn 1.
“No, we know what the line is not to cross,” he said.
“And again I think we've got some occasions throughout the year where I've crossed it, Lewis has crossed it, and we don't want to see that – so this is clear.”
There are actually several parallels between the Turn 1 incident at Monza between Leclerc and Hamilton, and the McLaren drama at COTA last season. Both involved a dispersed field funnelling into what is one functional racing line towards the next corner, and one of the drivers executing an assertive cut-back move to claim the line as if the other driver wasn’t there.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton Ferrari
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
In Piastri’s case he had overshot the corner slightly and was trying to ameliorate the loss, but was tagged by Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber while executing the cut-back, and this spun him into Norris. What mattered in the context of the incident, though, was that he had put himself in harm’s way given the imminent arrival of other cars into the space he was trying to claim.
The contretemps at Monza was less damaging to Ferrari, since both cars were able to continue. But it was initiated by Hamilton positioning his car in such a way as to give Leclerc no option but to yield the corner, and Leclerc then choosing not to do that, but to send Hamilton over the outside kerb instead.
It was a case of obstinacy on both sides but Hamilton was the more vocally aggrieved, making Vasseur’s task in defusing the situation more challenging. Vasseur never criticises team personnel in public but there were signs of frustration in his demeanour after Singapore two weeks ago, where Hamilton overruled an order to pit during a virtual safety car period because it would have locked him into spending the rest of the race behind Leclerc. Instead, he held out for another course neutralisation which might have given him the opportunity for a cheap pitstop – but it never came.
Whatever the internal mood in the Ferrari camp is now, this is not a circuit where team tactics are likely to come into play even if the drivers are disposed to work together. In Singapore you can work together to slow down the cars behind, but this isn’t possible on COTA’s more open layout.
Both Leclerc and Hamilton remain in mathematical contention for the championship but Leclerc’s hopes are more distant. To what extent will they work together for the common good? Leclerc didn’t rule it out while remaining noncommittal.
“It [teamwork] is always important,” he said.
“I don't think on a track like this there's anything like Singapore that you can do with slowing down another team or whatever. But obviously to stay away from each other is always a good thing no matter where we are.”