F1 Chinese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton under fire from Ferrari team-mate in angry blast

Hamilton smirking as Leclerc looks annoyed in the background on F1 grid — Photo: © IMAGO

Chinese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton under fire from Ferrari team-mate in angry blast at Chinese Grand Prix

Leclerc and Hamilton came close to contact in Shanghai

Chris Deeley

Saturday 14 March 2026 14:53

The new F1 season isn't even two weeks old yet, but already Ferrari team-mates Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have had a heated on-track tussle at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton was fighting George Russell for the lead for the first four or five laps of Saturday's Sprint race, but eventually faded back into the clutches of his team-mate - at which point he made it rather harder for Leclerc to effect an overtake than the Monegasque appeared to expect.

Leclerc got ahead into Turn 1, only to find a big red car switching back under him into Turn 2, pushing him onto the kerbs on the inside of Turn 3 to avoid potentially catastrophic contact.

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Leclerc then got his elbows out on the exit, forcing his way back into second place – which he held for the rest of the race distance.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: Russell suffers major issues as Antonelli takes record pole

Leclerc takes a shot at Hamilton

He immediately got onto the radio after the incident, saying: “Argh, the space! Does he know how wide these cars are, or not? Then he can complain about Turn 3, that’s okay.”

A late safety car closed the field up, leading to a restart with just three laps remaining, at which Leclerc hoped that he could give Russell a good run for the race win. Instead, he got a massive snap of oversteer coming out of the penultimate corner towards the start/finish line and lost his chance before it had even arrived.

After the sprint, he explained: “I think the tyres were a little bit colder than what I expected. I saw George actually having a snap. And I was like, ‘Okay, this is probably my opportunity to take the lead’.

“I tried to go a bit more aggressive on throttle, but I had the same rear grip as George, so I nearly lost it, but luckily didn’t completely lose it.”

SPRINT RACE RESULTS: Hamilton survives safety car chaos for Chinese GP podium

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Charles Leclerc Chinese Grand Prix