Lewis Hamilton has reflected on the tense radio messages he made during the Miami Grand Prix, conceding that «I’m sure people didn’t like certain comments» but emphasizing that they were said during a «frustrating» moment as Ferrari tried to maximise a lacklustre race.
The seven-time World Champion endured a difficult weekend in Miami as he was consigned to a 12th-place starting spot on the grid and was left battling Esteban Ocon on the fringes of the top-10 with the hard compound tyre in the early stages of the race.
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A mid-race Virtual Safety Car transformed his race, though, as it allowed the Briton to make a pit stop without losing as much time compared with those ahead and he closed on team mate Charles Leclerc and the Williams of Carlos Sainz, who were battling for seventh.
He moved up a spot as Leclerc passed Sainz at Turn 1, and with the softer medium tyre looked quicker than his team mate and asked his Ferrari engineer to be allowed ahead.
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But it took several laps before Ferrari asked Leclerc to cede the spot having initially told both drivers to hold position, prompting several irate messages from Hamilton including one that suggested they could «have a tea break while you’re at it», such was the delay in making a decision.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 post-race, Hamilton clarified that his comments were made in the heat of the moment and that his remarks would be discussed amongst the team.
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«I lost a lot of time behind Charles and in that moment for sure I was like, come on let’s make a concise decision really quick, let’s not waste time,» he said.
«I’m sure people didn’t like certain comments but you’ve got to understand it was frustrating, people say way worse things than what I say. It was more sarcastic than anything and I’m not frustrated now. We’ll work internally, we’ll have discussions and we’ll keep pushing.»
He added: «Let’s not get emotional about it. We’re here to race, we’re not where we want to be.»
Having eventually passed Leclerc, Hamilton was unable to pull away from his team mate who was able to stay within DRS range and also began to complain about dirty air from following.
‘In the heat of the moment it’s frustrating’ – Hamilton on tense radio calls in Miami
Having conceded the position back, Hamilton eventually finished eighth after making contact with Sainz on the last lap as the Williams driver made a late lunge into the final hairpin.
«For us to be battling them and struggling to beat them [Williams] just shows that we have a lot of performance to find,» Hamilton said.
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«We’re lacking performance in the car but I think we know where we are losing it, particularly since, like, China for example. We’ve got some improvements to make to the car before we can unlock that performance but we won’t give up, we’ll keep pushing.»
Leclerc was only able to finish one place higher in seventh, nearly a minute behind race winner Oscar Piastri during a race which saw only two brief Virtual Safety Cars as Ferrari’s race pace was laid bare.
He said: «It’s not good, we need to do better and we are in a difficult situation at the moment. I just hope we can turn that situation around as soon as possible.»
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