Lewis Hamilton clashed with his Ferrari team over the radio at the Miami Grand Prix. It was the clearest indication yet of the seven-time world champion’s frustration.
Hamilton started the race down in 12th after his first Q2 exit of the season. However, a helpfully-timed virtual safety car allowed him to make a cheap pit stop.
That saw him close up behind teammate Charles Leclerc, who had lined up eighth but completed a shorter opening stint on medium tyres. With that advantage of softer rubber, Hamilton called for the team to swap the cars so he could chase after Kimi Antonelli in P6.
But he was unhappy that Ferrari prevaricated over the decision. He sarcastically told his engineers to ‘take a tea break’.
They eventually issued the instruction to Leclerc, but Hamilton couldn’t open up a gap over his teammate. That prompted the team to restore the previous order.
It was a doubly bleak evening for Ferrari, who suffered both reputational and sporting damage. They are now over 150 points behind McLaren as Oscar Piastri led a one-two.
Martin Brundle shocked that Lewis Hamilton called Ferrari ‘you guys’ at Miami Grand Prix
Speaking during Sky’s coverage of the race, Martin Brundle questioned Ferrari’s decision-making. He felt they wasted three or four laps in deliberation, a criticism he repeated on the F1 Show.
Brundle suspects Hamilton’s anguish got the better of him after he spent most of the first stint struggling to get past the Haas of Esteban Ocon, which also uses a Ferrari power unit. He’d joined the team expecting to drive a title-contending car.
Two words above all ‘caught the attention’ of the pundit. Hamilton referred to Ferrari as ‘you guys’, which seemed to signal that a lack of unity.
The 40-year-old’s partnership with Mercedes was the most successful in F1 history. Clocking in at 12 full seasons, it was also the longest.
“I think it’s quite telling, the sarcasm of them, how upset Lewis is. He’d have been really frustrated in that race. 23 laps behind Ocon in the customer Ferrari with 300 people in the factory? That’s not where Lewis expected to be this year.
“I’d imagine his mood wasn’t too good. It didn’t look like they should have just swept him straight past Charles. One started on hards and went to medium, Charles started on medium and went to hard – they were going to meet in the middle somewhere.
“It seemed like a no-brainer, but in the end they had to let Charles back through, and that’s when Lewis came up with his second comment of ‘do you want me to let the Williams through as well?’, which was painful listening.
“They closed ranks at the end to calm that all down, but some of those things Lewis came out with, you can’t unsay.
“Two words that caught my attention in Lewis’ transmission – you guys. He’s a massive team player. It was quite a punchy thing to say, as in ‘it’s not us, it’s you’.”
Lewis Hamilton just made unwanted piece of personal history in Miami
Damon Hill says he’s ‘never’ heard Hamilton sound so sarcastic on the radio. As Brundle noted, he played down the issue afterwards, as did Leclerc and team principal Fred Vasseur.
Some of Hamilton’s supporters may actually welcome the exchanges. The 105-time race-winner attributed them to the ‘fire in his belly’.
His hunger remains even after a dispiriting run of results. Hamilton arrived to the Miami circuit early alongside Max Verstappen to begin work with his engineers.
For the first time in his F1 career, Hamilton has visited a track four times without scoring a podium. He did at least bag a top-three finish in the Sprint, having used his experience to pull off a strategic masterclass.
