Charles Leclerc 'crossed a line' and escaped penalty because he drives for Ferrari, says Toto Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has accused Charles Leclerc of crossing the line in his bid to hold off Lewis Hamilton at the Italian Grand Prix and said he might have been handed a penalty away from Ferrari’s home circuit.

Leclerc sealed a second straight win but earlier pushed Hamilton off track, with the Briton arguing he had not been left a car’s width, in breach of the rules.

But the 23-year-old escaped with a warning and held off a late challenge from Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas for the win.

Wolff said: “The racing was very hard, maybe over the line — and Lewis, I think, was instrumental in not making it an incident. But at the end of the day, what do you do? You give a leading Ferrari in Monza a five-second penalty? Out of the question, because then we need a police escort out of here.”

Hamilton said he planned to talk in private with Leclerc over his move, which he clearly deemed dangerous and felt should have warranted further sanction.

The five-times world champion said: “We ask constantly for consistency. There was a rule put in place and then it wasn’t abided by.

“We had a couple of close moments. I think we can probably talk about it in private together but there’s nothing major and we continue to race.”

Wolff, though, warned bosses they would need to have a rethink, saying: "It’s going to get to the point where it will end in a collision.”