Veteran driver Lewis Hamilton became furious and criticized Ferrari’s strategists over the radio during the main race of the Miami Grand Prix for their slow reactions.

The seven-time F1 champion started the Miami race on May 4th in 12th place with hard tires and spent the first half of the race fighting for a spot in the bottom half of the top 10 against Esteban Ocon. However, a virtual safety car period caused by an accident involving Oliver Bearman (Haas) worked in Hamilton’s favor, aligning with his strategy to pit late.

The British driver seized the opportunity to change tires and then closed the gap on his teammate Charles Leclerc and rival Carlos Sainz (Williams), who were battling for seventh place. Then, during the fierce battle between Leclerc and Sainz on lap 34, when the second virtual safety car period ended after Gabriel Bortoleto’s (Sauber) crash, Hamilton overtook Williams’ FW47, climbing to 8th place, just behind Leclerc.

At this point, the advantage of Hamilton’s medium tires compared to his teammate’s hard tires allowed him to catch up with Leclerc. Hamilton then radioed in, requesting that the strategists order Leclerc to let him pass for safety reasons. However, it took several laps of consideration before Ferrari instructed Leclerc to relinquish the position on lap 38. Ferrari’s delay in making the decision frustrated Hamilton, and over the radio, he said, “You guys can go have tea, let me race on my own.”

However, after passing Leclerc on lap 38, Hamilton still couldn’t break away and catch Kimi Antonelli ahead. This delay caused Leclerc to end up in Hamilton’s dirty air. The Monaco driver was also frustrated and radioed in, saying, “I need Lewis to go faster.” But Hamilton’s SF-25 couldn’t pull away, leading Ferrari to decide to swap positions between the two drivers. Hamilton was instructed to give up the position to Leclerc on lap 51.

The British driver showed his displeasure and didn’t immediately follow Ferrari’s orders. After Leclerc took the position back, race engineer Riccardo Adami reported that Hamilton had a 1.4-second gap to the car behind (Sainz). Hamilton sarcastically responded, “Do you want me to let him pass too?”

After the race, Hamilton explained and tried to calm the situation down. He said, “I lost a lot of time behind Charles, and at that moment, I thought I had to make a quick, clear decision and not waste time. I know people didn’t like some of the words I used, but you have to understand that I was very frustrated. Many people would say much worse things in that situation.”

The British driver also admitted to overreacting but emphasized that there was no personal issue with the team or Leclerc. “We will sort it out internally and find ways to improve. I think we can do better. The car we have right now is not what we really need,” Hamilton added.

Leclerc expressed understanding for his teammate’s reaction. “I understand Lewis was just trying to do something different, and I appreciate that. I would have reacted the same way if I were him,” said the Ferrari driver.

Immediately after the race, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur went to speak with Hamilton. Later, he denied claims that Ferrari delayed the decision to swap positions between their drivers. “The time spent considering the decision was about a lap and a half, not as long as everyone thinks. With two cars and different strategies, we first had to calculate whether the race would be faster if you fell behind or not,” Vasseur explained.

According to him, the calculation took about 1 minute and 30 seconds before the strategists instructed the two drivers to swap positions. “If the swap didn’t work as planned, switching positions again to restore the original order is perfectly normal. I fully understand the drivers’ frustration. From a team perspective, we did a good job,” Vasseur emphasized.

The Ferrari team principal also pointed out that radio communications were filtered and aired live, which created a distorted perception of time and led to misunderstandings among fans. He said, “The Race Operations (FOM) department is in charge of managing and controlling the radio communications that are broadcast on live TV. This means that sometimes we communicate something to the drivers, but often, it takes half a lap or even a full lap for the conversation to be aired on television.”