MONZA, Italy -- Lewis Hamilton called on his Ferrari bosses to introduce "rules of engagement" between its two drivers after a messy first-lap battle with teammate Charles Leclerc lost him more ground in the title race.
The comments followed a frustrating Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari in which Hamilton finished sixth and Leclerc crashed out on the second lap.
Hamilton lost five positions in the opening five corners of Sunday's race after going wheel-to-wheel with Leclerc in the first chicane and being forced wide on the exit.
Just 24 hours earlier, the seven-time champion had called on Ferrari to work as a team following a messy qualifying session, saying no rules are in place between the drivers to ensure the best result for all.
"It comes down to rules of engagement," Hamilton said. "When I was at Mercedes, we had a written rule of engagement.
"We never really had it too bad, maybe between me and Nico [Rosberg] a couple of times, but more often than not it was good.
"Here there are no rules, and I think that's something that we need to try and address."
Hamilton's deficit to championship leader Kimi Antonelli increased to 76 points after the Mercedes driver won in Monza, while Leclerc is 112 points off the breakaway leader.
But even with the full support of his team over the remaining rounds of the season, Hamilton doubts it would make a difference in taking the fight to Antonelli.
"From today, we've just lost so much ground to them on points," Hamilton added. "It's far too late for those decisions to come.
"It's many, many weeks 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.
"For me today," he said, "I feel massively gutted for the tifosi, who showed up for us today. The guys back at the factory, who really, really are giving it everything. You know, yesterday we didn't really execute that well. I think the same today.
"It's tough. I'm giving it everything I can, but sometimes it's just not enough.
"You need all the other stuff to come together," Hamilton said.
The incident between Hamilton and Leclerc in Monza followed another missed opportunity at the Dutch Grand Prix two weeks earlier when Ferrari opted not to employ team orders to let Hamilton, who was on fresher tires and a different strategy, pass Leclerc.
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Speaking in Monza, Hamilton said it is the responsibility of team principal Fred Vasseur to make changes, especially after a trend of underwhelming results at recent races.
"Ultimately, it comes from the top and it trickles down as decisions," Hamilton said.
"It starts with Fred. There's only so much you can say, so much you can push and shove and at the top. Yesterday, I said we've got to look at how we communicate because if we continue to travel the same path, we get the same result. We keep getting the same result.
"We've got to change things because it's not helping us move forward," he added. "I think they're receptive to it, and we'll take it offline, particularly after the next race, to try and look at how we can proceed to make things different so that the same things don't happen again."
When Hamilton was asked if Ferrari's fanbase should worry about more incidents between the team's two drivers, he added: "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 is on my side.
"You have to speak to Fred about the other side and decisions that are taken there," he added. "But I'll keep pushing and trying to get more from the team and my car and from the engineers in design and everything like that."
