Lewis Hamilton questioned the Formula 1 race stewards' decision to show Charles Leclerc the black-and-white flag instead of giving him a time penalty for m♏oving under braking during their battle for th𝓀e lead in the Italian Grand Prix.

Leclerc went wheel-to-wheel with Hamiltꦬon in a fight for the lead soon after the pit stops, with the pair running closely together on the run to the Roggia Chicane.

Hamilton hung his car to the outside of the corner, but was forced to take to the escape road after being squeezed out by Leclerc, who moved late under braking to the right-hand side of the track. The stewards gave Leclerc a warning by showing him the black-and🦩-white flag but did not take any further action.

The 🍸pair also ran close together a second time later in the race, with Leclerc again appearing to move under braking, prompting Hamilton to complain over team radio. Leclerc went on to win the race for Ferrari while Hamilton could onl🐠y finish third for Mercedes.

"It’s ౠjust racing I guess. I had to avoid colliding with him a couple of times," Hamilton said after🔴 the race.

"That’s h🍸ow the racing is today. We j🏅ust move forwards."

The incident appeared similar to the one between Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas in last year's race at Monza when Verstappen was hit with a five-ꦡsecond time penalty for moving under braking, forcing Bottas to go🐻 off-track at Turn 1.

Reminded of this penalty🌼, Hamilton questioned the consis𝓀tency in the stewards' decisions.

"We’ve just constantly asked for consi𝕴stency. There was a rule put in place, and then it wasn’t abided by today," Hamilton🌄 said.

"They used different consequences for the rule today. I don’t know why that was the case. I guess the stewards woke up o𝓡n a different side of the bed today, Iꦫ don’t know."

Asked if he agreed with the use of the black-and-white flag, Hamilton said: "Then Verstappen should have got that last year. We’ve asked for consistency, so the same rule should apply eachꦦ time."

Hamilto♔n later stressed that he was "not unhappy" about the incident, but added that🍸 he would look to speak to Leclerc in private about the moves.

"Of course I don’t like to go backwards, but he did a fantastic job today. I put on as much pressure as I could,"🅘 Hamilton said.

"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.

"I’m looking forward to more races together."