Lewis Hamilton insists he stands by Leclerc "do or die" claim.

In the aftermath of last weekend's Mexico City Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton, as expected, was highly critical of the actions of his teammate following their encounter on the opening lap.

"I got pushed out by my own teammate," he had declared at the time, his frustration not helped by the fact that said teammate was unable to give the position back. At race end, he warned his team that it had "big problems".

Speaking to the media post-race, the seven-time world champion described his teammate as having a "do or die" approach to his racing, warning that "serious talks" were needed.

Four days later he was clearly in no mood to back down.

"I don't really care what anyone thinks about what I said," he told reporters, "I wear my heart on my sleeve and I say how I feel in the moment.

"I did see something that someone was saying that it's calculated, the things that I'm saying and I just want to combat that with the fact that when you're in the race your heart rate is like 170, you're driving 200 miles per hour, you don't have time to be calculated about what you're saying and thinking what you're saying the media are going to write about.

"You don't think about that, usually your frustration comes out towards the people in your team, particularly the bosses about decisions."

Indeed, while Fred Vasseur admitted his frustration at what had happened, and the aftermath, there have been no 'clear the air' talks, far less an agreement on how far his drivers are allowed to push one another. Of course, the situation wasn't helped by Leclerc's absence, having returned to Monaco to be present at the birth of his first child.

Nonetheless, the incident, and Hamilton's comments, have dominated social media, where the Briton has once again been accused of seeking to cause division, at a time Ferrari is already under attack from the Italian media.

"There's times you say things and maybe you might regret it afterwards," said Hamilton. "I don't and I'm never going to apologise for being authentic and real and I'm not going to be silenced. I have not been asked to not say anything and that's just the way it is."

As before, the Briton insists that Leclerc pushes him harder than he does drivers from other teams.

"I can see what you see," he said. "In Singapore he was fully alongside Verstappen, wheel to wheel, fully on the inside and he backed off. It was definitely different. If you look at the previous teammates it was the same with Sebastian, it was the same with Carlos.

Naturally, I was frustrated and I'm still frustrated," he said of Mexico, where he insists Leclerc's actions cost Ferrari a 1-2, "so those are conversations that need to be had, we will have those when the time permits. Fred's been back in Europe at the team. Obviously, Charles is with his family.

"We had an opportunity to win for the team. The team has done such an amazing job of bringing upgrades this year, they've been working flat-out all year long to try and bridge the gap given that we had the power deficit and I think they've done an incredible job.

"We've made lots of changes in how we deliver on our weekend, you've really seen us taking some leaps and bounds and we've scored more points than any other team in the last three races. We could have easily had a one-two and so we definitely have to work towards making sure that doesn't happen again."