Charles Leclerc makes major blame admission over Lewis Hamilton clash

Charles Leclerc has openly conceded to being at fault for the collision with Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix that proved costly for the seven-time F1 champion.

Starting alongside one another on the second row of the grid at Monza, Hamilton challenged Leclerc for third position through the initial Rettifilio chicane, emerging into and through Turn 2 with the nose of his SF-26 ahead of the Monégasque's car.

Hamilton ended up running wide out of the corner and onto the grass, leading to him dropping to 10th and out of contention for a possible podium given the pace of the cars ahead of him, despite the race restarting soon after following Leclerc's 60g smash into a tyre barrier at the Parabolica on lap two.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur confirmed after the race that he would discuss the incident with his drivers, leading to Leclerc taking the blame.

"It's clear that we never want to see a car from the same team in the grass," said Leclerc, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365 ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring street circuit in Madrid.

"After reviewing, we spoke with Lewis. Obviously, I know I went too far in Turn 2, and I said it to Lewis. It's very clear what we should do or should avoid going forward."

Leclerc aware of 'huge mess' over Hamilton incident

Declining to go into greater detail on the matter, Leclerc did make clear that as far as he is concerned, there is no acrimony between himself and Hamilton.

"The only thing I can say is that it definitely did not affect the good relationship that we have, and it will not affect anything going forward," said Leclerc. "That is the most important for me, really.

"Of course, I know we are driving for Ferrari, and if there's one race where you don't want that to happen, it's in Monza, and when these things happen at our home race, then it creates a huge mess [on the] outside."

Leclerc felt the incident was also overblown, certainly in comparison to what he considered were other incidents between team-mates over the weekend, albeit appreciating what occurred between himself and Hamilton was on home soil in front of the tifosi. 

"Looking at the race from the outside, there was also some friction between other team-mates, but the only thing we end up speaking about is Lewis and I, which I don't think is quite right," said Leclerc.

"That doesn't mean we did everything perfect. I didn't in Turn 2, and for that, I was straight away very clear with with Lewis after reviewing the images. It's something that will not happen again."