‘No rules’ Ferrari only has itself to blame for latest F1 disasterclass

Any hope that Ferrari’s drivers could do something special at its home Formula 1 race were extinguished in the space of a horrendous two laps at the Italian Grand Prix. 

Ferrari winning on home soil at Monza was always going to be a tall order, but with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton sharing the second row, the passionate Tifosi were expectant and hoping for a miracle. 

But their dreams quickly descended into nightmare and agony when Leclerc and Hamilton clashed at the first corner, leading to the seven-time world champion being pushed out onto the gravel and dropping down the order to 10th. 

Leclerc continued to battle in the leading pack but his race would end in spectacular and devastating fashion when his Ferrari suddenly spat him off into the barriers at the Parabolica at the end of the second lap. 

Just like that, Ferrari’s most important race of the season had unravelled into a disasterclass of epic proportions, even by the Maranello squad’s remarkable recent record of being subjected to failure and humiliation. 

The blame for the incident was the subject of intense debate and opposing views, but perhaps the most obvious conclusion that can be drawn is the Ferrari drivers are not racing each other like team-mates. 

While a win was never likely on the cards in reality given Ferrari’s lack of race pace and Hamilton’s end result of sixth - which was not helped by the team's decision not to pit him under a virtual safety car and leave him out on old mediums - the team certainly didn’t help itself in a compromised race. 

Ferrari could have avoided the situation altogether if it had clear rules of engagement in the first place. This is something that is clearly lacking, as Hamilton made a point of highlighting after the race. 

"I think it comes down to rules of engagement," said Hamilton, who joined Ferrari from Mercedes in 2025. "When I was at Mercedes, we had written rules of engagement.

"We never really, really had it too bad. There was a moment between me and Nico [Rosberg] a couple of times, but more often than not, it was good. Here, there are no rules. We need to address that.”

It marks the latest in a series of recent examples of Hamilton publicly calling out Ferrari for its decision-making. 

At the Dutch Grand Prix, Hamilton lamented Ferrari in a furious radio outburst after feeling the team had cost him a podium finish through its lack of decisiveness. Hamilton was on a superior strategy to Leclerc and wanted to be let by in order to attack the Mercedes drivers. Ferrari hesitated and gave no team orders, leading to Hamilton losing crucial time behind his team-mate as the pair took fourth and fifth. 

“Great way of wasting time guys, good job,” came Hamilton’s sarcastic response over the airwaves. He would later apologise to his Ferrari team for letting his emotions boil over. 

Hamilton expressed deep frustration at Ferrari’s execution in qualifying at Monza after he narrowly avoided an embarrassing Q2 exit and then failed to receive a crucial tow for his first push lap in Q3. 

After the race, Hamilton said it is “far too late” for Ferrari to give him priority over Leclerc in the championship fight after watching his slim title hopes fade further away.

Hamilton already arrived in Italy 59 points behind title leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli but he has fallen 76 points adrift after the Italian’s incredible comeback victory. He felt Ferrari had squandered too many points to Mercedes before Monza, which represented a crucial opportunity to make up ground that went begging. 

It is clear Hamilton wants Ferrari to act more like Mercedes when it comes to handling its intra-team fight, but he knows those decisions come from much higher up. 

"Ultimately it comes from the top. It trickles down and so, it starts with Fred [Vasseur, Ferrari team principal],” Hamilton acknowledged. 

"There's only so much you can say, so much you can push and shout from the mountaintop. [Saturday] I said we've got to look at just how we communicate because if we continue to travel the same path, we get the same result.

"It's like, we keep getting the same result. We've got to change things because this is not helping us move forwards. I think they're receptive to it and we'll take it offline over the next...probably not for next week, but particularly after the next race to try and look how we can procedurally do things differently so the same thing can't keep happening.”

When asked if the championship picture was raised with the drivers before the race, Ferrari, Vasseur replied: "To see if we have a team order or whatever, I think that the good comparison that I made was that last year, [Oscar] Piastri was leading [for] McLaren at this stage of the season. And if McLaren put everything on Piastri, Max Verstappen would have been champion.

"But for sure, at one stage, you have to take a decision. But I think it was too early to take a decision before Monza. Now we have time to discuss with the guys.”

While Vasseur makes a valid point with his McLaren reference, what happened in Monza will have done little to ease the discontent that appears to be growing between the drivers. 

Hamilton’s remarks give off the impression of unease and an element of mistrust. If Ferrari continues to do nothing, it risks open war between its drivers. 

This is a situation Ferrari has brought upon itself by choosing to have two superstar drivers with big egos. Now, it must manage them and defuse any needle before things get out of hand. 

Ferrari has to face up to this problem sooner or later. After all, if it is serious about winning titles in the future, it cannot keep both Hamilton and Leclerc happy. 

If Ferrari didn’t want to rock the boat with the recently re-signed Leclerc, viewed as the chosen one to lead the Scuderia back to F1 title glory, it begs the question; why on earth did it sign Hamilton in the first place? 

Ferrari has shot itself in the foot by seemingly having no plan of action and only has itself to blame.