Lewis Hamilton issues clear response to worried Ferrari fans

Lewis Hamilton has made it clear to Ferrari's passionate fans that they have no reason to worry about the seemingly rising tension between himself and team-mate Charles Leclerc.

In front of a full-house crowd at Monza on Sunday, Hamilton and Leclerc found themselves in a glaring spotlight that comes with racing at Monza, and answering questions over their relationship.

Starting from a favourable third and fourth on the grid, Leclerc and Hamilton locked horns through the opening Rettifilo chicane. Slight contact forced Hamilton onto the gravel, pitching him down the field into 10th, leading to an in-depth review as to which driver was in the wrong.

Shortly after, Leclerc's weekend ended dramatically when he suffered a 60g crash at the Parabolica. As for Hamilton, the seven-time F1 champion finished a relatively lowly sixth, primarily as the team opted against a tyre change under a VSC, even though he had complained about his fading Pirelli rubber a few laps previously.

Asked whether the tifosi should be concerned about how he and Leclerc are going racing, particularly after Hamilton complained about not being given preferential treatment at the previous Dutch GP, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, the 41-year-old said: "I don't race dirty.

"I've always raced clean and fairly, and always left space, so I don't think they should be worried about me.

"I've come into the team and tried to be respectful of space and definitely not put the team in jeopardy, and I stand by that. That's all I can talk about on my side.

"You have to speak to Fred [Vasseur, team principal] about the other side and decisions that we could have taken, but I'll keep pushing and trying to get more from the team and from our car and from the engineers in design and everything like that."

Mercedes 'mind-blowing'

Ultimately, Hamilton was left powerless against Mercedes, with four of the five cars that finished ahead of him all utilising power from the German manufacturing giant

Only Red Bull's Max Verstappen punctuated the top five as the Dutch driver finished behind a Mercedes one-two, spearheaded by Kimi Antonelli, whilst McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were fourth and fifth.

Even Alpine's Pierre Gasly, who had stunned all in F1 by starting on pole position, finished only three seconds behind Hamilton at the chequered flag in seventh.

Putting aside a potential tyre stop under a VSC, sixth was the best Hamilton could do.

Describing what happened between him and Leclerc as "very bad for the team", he added: "Obviously, it put us way back in positions.

"I then tried to reset, and I was in the fight, doing good. The grip felt good, and the car generally felt decent through the corners.

"But on the straight, they were just pulling. We knew they were fast on the straight, but it was really mind-blowing just how quick they were on the straight- the Mercedes power. That thing just keeps pulling, pulling, pulling."