2.Hamilton asks for stewarding consistency
At the previous grand prix in Spa, Lewis Hamilton finished in Charles Leclerc’s wheeltracks, but never got the chance to attack the Ferrari driver. It was a different proposition at Monza when twice he came close to overtaking his rival.
Despite the straight-line speed advantage of the SF90, Hamilton never allowed Leclerc to build a gap and closed on the leader as the pair neared their one and only pitstops.
On lap 23, the Mercedes hounded Leclerc around the Curva Biassono and pulled out from behind his rear wing as they braked for the Della Roggia chicane. Leclerc gently squeezed Hamilton off the right-hand side of the track and forced the British driver to straight-line the second chicane.
The stewards studied the incident and decided to award Leclerc the black and white driving standards flag. The use of the flag – which has been largely redundant in F1 – has been encouraged to give drivers a warning for their behaviour without instantly issuing them a penalty. The idea is to encourage harder racing.
But when Leclerc made a mistake 12 laps later and locked up at the first chicane, he was again robust in the defence of his lead from Hamilton. Rounding the Biassono, Leclerc blocked Hamilton again and held his place. No subsequent penalty was deemed necessary.
Afterwards, the British driver was asked about the close-quarter moves. He said: “I had to avoid colliding with him a couple of times. We’ve constantly asked for consistency and there was a rule put in place that wasn’t abided today.”
Leclerc admitted that since Austria (where he was out-manoeuvred for the win on the final lap by Max Verstappen) he has become more robust in his on-track driving.
“Since Austria it’s clear we can go a bit further in the way we defend and overtake,” he said. “It’s obviously on the limit but I’m happy to race like this.”