Lewis Hamilton Defends Radio Messages in Ferrari Feud at F1 Miami GP

Lewis Hamilton was deeply frustrated with Ferrari’s strategy decisions during the 2025 Miami Grand Prix as he struggled in the dirty air of teammate Charles Leclerc. After venting his dissatisfaction over team radio, the seven-time world champion provided further details into the incident following the race.

Following the race, he had calmed down, admitting that the race was still fun despite being held up behind his teammate.

“Well, first, I really enjoyed the race. Honestly, it was difficult. I knew it was gonna be difficult today, starting from 12th,” he told Sky Sports.

“We’re not where we wanna be. We are lacking clearly a lot of pace. We’ve lost some performance over the past, some races, and we know where it is and we’re just, we’re just waiting for a fix to regain some of it. So for us to be at the back of the top 10 is definitely not easy for the whole team.

“But yeah, once I got past the Haas, I got onto the medium tire. I was feeling really optimistic. The car was coming back alive and I was really thinking I had potential to catch the guys ahead. I was hoping we’d get a safety car — but that never came.”

The tension began early when Hamilton, running on a different tire strategy than Leclerc, found himself unable to capitalize on his fresher tires due to being stuck in Leclerc’s turbulent air. Hamilton had been vocally critical of the delay in switching positions, specifically referencing the Chinese Grand Prix where he quickly let his Monegasque teammate by.

“Then obviously I lost a lot of time behind Charles, and in that moment I was like, ‘Come on, let’s make a decision really quick. Let’s not waste time.’

“I’m sure people didn’t like some of the comments, but I mean, it was just… you gotta understand, especially… people say way worse things than I say, you know

“So it was more sarcastic than anything. I’m not frustrated now. We’ll work internally. We have discussions and keep pushing.”

Ferrari eventually swapped their cars, allowing Hamilton the chance to reel in Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli. But as Leclerc enjoyed the DRS behind the former Mercedes driver, he was eventually ordered to swap once again.