Ferrari left Miami with more questions than answers after Charles Leclerc finished seventh and Lewis Hamilton eighth in a race marred by strategy confusion and slow reactions on the pit wall. The team appeared unsure how to handle a tricky tyre situation between their two drivers, which ultimately cost both of them time.
“Most of the time I say something, today I don’t think I’ll say anything,” Leclerc told reporters after the race, according to Crash.net. “We need to do better, that’s for sure. Today was not ideal and was far from maximizing our potential,” he added.
The key issue was a delayed call to swap cars when Hamilton, on mediums, was clearly quicker than Leclerc on hard tyres. “We should have discussed a little bit more before doing the swap,” Leclerc said. “All of this made the situation a bit trickier […] we need to be robust enough that whenever we find ourselves in those situations, we do better.”
Despite the drama, Leclerc made it clear there was no tension with Hamilton. “No bad feelings with Lewis, not at all,” he said, adding that in Hamilton’s position, he would’ve done the same. “I understand that he wants to try and optimize as much as I want to try and optimize the car’s potential. The car’s potential is just this, which is frustrating.”
Hamilton slams Ferrari’s strategy over team radio
Hamilton wasn’t shy about airing his frustration over the radio during the race. Early on, stuck behind Leclerc with Antonelli ahead, he asked: “So you want me to just sit here the whole race?” Ferrari initially told him to hold station, only to change their minds a few laps later.
By the time Hamilton was finally let through on Lap 39, he was already unhappy. “This is not good teamwork, that’s all I’m going to say,” he told Riccardo Adami. “Have a tea break while you’re at it, come on!”
The back-and-forth didn’t end there. Just when Hamilton was gaining on Antonelli, Ferrari asked for another swap, suggesting Leclerc might be faster. Hamilton’s response: “So you don’t think I can catch up, or what?”
In the closing laps, with Carlos Sainz approaching from behind, Hamilton delivered one last jab. “You want me to let him past as well?” he said. It summed up the messy day for Ferrari, who never quite managed to get out of their own way.
