Far too late for title fight priority - Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton says it is "far too late" for Ferrari to give him priority over team-mate Charles Leclerc in the championship fight, following a disappointing weekend at their home Italian Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion, who started fourth and finished sixth, was pushed on to the grass by Leclerc on the opening lap, slipping him down to 10th, as the pair battled wheel-to-wheel at the exit of the first chicane. Leclerc then suffered a high-speed crash at the Parabolica shortly after to leave Hamilton as Ferrari's only hope of a top-three finish. Once the race restarted following the red-flag period caused by Leclerc's crash, Hamilton never fully rejoined the fight at the front, and with Mercedes securing a one-two finish at Monza, he has fallen further back in the championship fight. The 41-year-old, who was level on points with second-placed Russell in the standings before Sunday's race, is now 10 behind his old Silver Arrows team-mate, and 76 points adrift of title leader and race winner Antonelli. "I think from today, we've just lost so much ground to [Mercedes] on points," said Hamilton."It's far too late for those decisions to come. It's too late. All I can do is just try and turn up. I'll get up tomorrow morning and I'll give it my best." He added: "It's never over until it's over. I don't know how many points it is now, but I'm sure it's 60, 70. It's an amount that, with the pace that they have, it's a very, very difficult amount to close out."Ferrari were left answering similar questions about who should take priority following the team's performance at the Dutch Grand Prix last month. Hamilton, who is two places higher than Leclerc in the championship, was left frustrated in Zandvoort, as he felt the team took too long to move Leclerc - who was third and on a differernt strategy - out of the way so he could challenge for a podium, as he was on fresher tyres and quicker. When they eventually did pit Leclerc, Hamilton responded over team radio: "Great way of wasting time, good job". He later apologised for his comments. But the first-lap incident between the pair in Italy seems to have only intensified Hamilton's concerns. Speaking after his lap-two crash, Leclerc said "it was way too close into turn one" between himself and Hamilton. He added that he was unaware whether the pair had made contact. "I was quite a lot on the inside kerb and tried to make the corner, which I didn't do it tight enough," said Leclerc. "And then I only saw in the mirrors what happened, which is never what you want between two cars of the same team." However, Hamilton said: "I was ahead in turn two by the ethics, I was ahead. There was no 'we' in it."When asked if Ferrari fans should be worried the dynamics between himself and Leclerc may turn into a team-mate feud, he said: "Look, 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. I stand by that and that's all I can talk about." Team principal Frederic Vasseur said the incident between his two drivers was "not good". But he also was keen to stress that every team on the grid has to manage intra-team tensions. "Now, to see if we have a team order or whatever, I think that the comparison that I made was that last year, [Oscar] Piastri was leading McLaren at this stage of the season, and if McLaren put everything on Piastri, [Red Bull's] Max Verstappen would have been champion."For sure, at one stage you have to make a decision, but I think it was too early to make a decision before Monza. Now we have time to discuss with the guys."Hamilton said Ferrari needed to look at how they communicate."If we continue to travel the same path, we get the same result," he said. "And it's like we keep getting the same result. We've got to change things because it's not helping us to move forward. I think they're receptive to it and we'll take it offline."