Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur did not hold back after Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix, declaring himself furious over another on-track collision between teammates Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc that cost the team a likely victory.

The flashpoint came just two months after a similar clash between the pair during the early laps of the Italian Grand Prix, reigniting questions about whether Ferrari has clear rules governing how its drivers race each other.

Hamilton had started from pole position in Mexico City, with Leclerc lining up third. At the start, Hamilton held the lead into turn one, with Leclerc tucked in behind him in second. But at turn four, Leclerc attempted a move around the outside, ran off the circuit, and cut across at turn five to emerge in the lead. Hamilton also went off track at the same point but rejoined within the white lines at turn five, ultimately dropping to third behind Max Verstappen.

An angry Hamilton radioed race engineer Carlo Santi to complain that he had been "pushed out by my own teammate." Stewards later handed Leclerc a five-second time penalty, but the sanction did little to defuse the situation, with Hamilton subsequently calling for internal talks to resolve the matter.

Vasseur, who has faced criticism in recent weeks over the apparent absence of firm protocols for managing his two drivers, was visibly frustrated when speaking to media after the race. He described the incident as deeply damaging to the team's reputation, saying it represented "a huge disrespect for the brand, for all the people who work in Maranello, and for the efforts we're making." He added that Ferrari had made genuine progress in performance terms this season, making it all the harder to accept "throwing away a victory like this."

The Ferrari boss stopped short of assigning blame to either driver, insisting he wanted to hear from both before drawing conclusions. He pointed out the rarity of the circumstances, noting that starting first and third at a circuit where no overtaking had occurred in 72 years made finishing second and fourth especially galling.

Both drivers remain tied to Ferrari for the foreseeable future, with Hamilton under contract until at least 2027 and Leclerc having signed a long-term extension earlier this year. Vasseur now faces the task of addressing the tension between his two stars before it further threatens the team's championship ambitions.

Source: GPFans

See also our earlier piece: We've got big problems' - Hamilton says Ferrari need 'serious talks