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Charles Leclerc finally admits he caused the Turn 1 incident at the Italian Grand Prix as the Monegasque driver says he has cleared the air with Lewis Hamilton and accepts responsibility ahead of the Spanish GP. The home crowd at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza were excited to see what Ferrari could do after qualifying third and fourth, opening the door to a chance to win if they could overtake George Russell. However, it all went sharply wrong as Hamilton attempted to overtake the 28-year-old into Turn 1 but despite being squeezed, the Brit remained very fair as he hit the apex of the corner and left space at the exit. The 41-year-old then permitted Leclerc space on the entry of Turn 2 but found himself pushed into the gravel by the sister Ferrari and fell from what looked set to become third to 10th in a matter of moments. The crowd gasped and Hamilton protested over the team radio but the damage was done, and to make matters worse his teammate then crashed out on at the Parabolica shortly later By Lap 3, Ferrari’s strong grid position now read as a DNF and 10th and the hopes of the Tifosi lay in tatters with George Russell in the lead for the Silver Arrows ahead of Pierre Gasly. More from the Italian GP Catch up with Total Motorsport’s latest Italian GP coverage, including Pierre Gasly’s shock pole for Alpine, the full qualifying classification from Monza, and the growing controversy surrounding McLaren, Alpine, Flavio Briatore and the FIA. Although Hamilton made a strong restart to pass Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri into Turn 1 on Lap 6, he ultimately did not have the pace to remain ahead of the McLarens as his worn down medium tyres degraded and he settled for sixth. To make matters worse, Kimi Antonelli went on to win for the Silver Arrows from 19th on the grid, meaning that a chance to narrow the gap in the 2026 F1 standings had passed Maranello by. Hamilton now finds himself heading into the Spanish GP aiming to close a 66-point margin to the 20-year-old with just 10 races to go: Time is running out on the dream for an eighth title. And the veteran driver was not keen to accept Leclerc’s claim that he had a role in the drama as he keenly stressed that he was ahead at the apex of Turn 2 and entitled to the corner, pinning the responsibility on his colleague. But it’s not just the personal goals of Hamilton that took a blow. As Mercedes secured 43 points to Ferrari’s eight, the gap in the constructors’ championship has now swelled to 122 points. Ferrari’s ambitions of winning a Formula 1 title after almost 20 years took a substantial blow at the Italian GP, Leclerc now finally admits he caused the incident heading into the Spanish GP in Madrid. “We spoke with Lewis. We’ve always had a great relationship,” Leclerc told F1 TV. “I have a lot of respect for Lewis. “I told him in Turn 2 I didn’t behave the way I should have, and the way a team-mate should. It happens when you are super motivated. “Lewis is super motivated and I’m super motivated, and we all try to do our best, sometimes you go too far, which I did. “And we will retune that in order for it to not happen again in the future.” Leclerc claims incident blown out of proportion at Monza Although Leclerc now finally admits he was the driver who bears the responsibility for Hamilton ending up in the gravel on Sunday, September 6 he continues to play down talks of a feud. Tensions emerged between the pair at Zandvoort’s Dutch GP over strategy and continued on into Qualifying at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, where Hamilton felt the nine-time winner changed their run plan on the spot. The result saw Hamilton sneak through into Q3 by just 0.001, narrowly avoiding a shocking elimination to Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi whilst Leclerc barely fared better as he made the cut by just 0.007. The incident in the Italian GP then saw the media begin to question whether there a pressure cooker waiting to explode at Maranello but Leclerc tried to play it down as baseless, something he reaffirms in Spain by stressing things are out of proportion. “What was very important was to speak first of all,” Leclerc added at the Madring. “It’s been quite a few years now that I’ve been in Ferrari, and I know how it feels when everything on Ferrari is kind of on fire. “And if you don’t speak between Lewis and I, you can get caught with this noise around the team. It’s not that there’s no reason for that noise, but the intensity of the noise is a bit too crazy. “When you look at Monza, there has been friction between other teammates and we barely talk about it. “But when it’s about Ferrari, it takes proportion that is not normal.”