Furious Ferrari boss lays into Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for 'lack of respect'

A furious Fred Vasseur has accused Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc of showing a "lack of respect" to Ferrari following their Mexico City GP clash.

Hamilton started on pole in Mexico and was primed to tow Leclerc from third down to Turn 1, with the latter moving to the outside of the turn to move up the inside of Turn 2, with Hamilton ahead on the run to Turn 4.

There, Leclerc attempted to swing around the outside, with both he and Hamilton running off the track, as Leclerc got ahead by cutting the track, with Ferrari's misery then compounded by Max Verstappen getting ahead of Hamilton. 

Leclerc was subsequently handed a five-second time penalty by the stewards for gaining a lasting advantage, with Hamilton remarking over the radio that the stewards had handed Leclerc a win by only giving him five seconds of penalty, as he still enjoyed clean air.

Verstappen got ahead through the pit-stops as Leclerc served his penalty, with the Red Bull fending off Hamilton's late pursuit through a second standing restart and safety car period to snatch the win - with Red Bull now holding three wins in 2026 to Ferrari's two. 

Hamilton was second and Leclerc fourth - but post-race, a furious Vasseur tore into his drivers.

"I'm struggling to swallow it because, honestly, I think it's a lack of respect, a lack of respect for the brand, a lack of respect for all the people working here and for the efforts we're putting in," Vasseur told Canal+.

"We've taken a real step forward in terms of performance, and I think throwing away a win like that is tough."

When then asked if he was directly calling out Leclerc, Vasseur denied the Monegasque was the target of his frustrations and wanted to speak with both drivers.

"No, no, I didn't target anyone; I want to talk with them," he said.

"Lewis was running very wide too, but look, I think we also need to keep in mind that we represent a brand, we represent sponsors, we've got 2,000 people working behind us who aren't just racing for the sake of racing; they're racing for the whole team."