Since Lewis Hamilton first settled into a Ferrari cockpit, it was clear that every radio call, strategic choice, and race outcome from the number 44 car would face extreme scrutiny. This is simply unavoidable when the most decorated driver in Formula 1 history joins the sport`s most famous team.
In his initial race in red in Australia, even straightforward messages about using a `K1` setting on the steering wheel went viral, despite Hamilton politely speaking to his new race engineer, Riccardo Adami. A week later in China, the official F1 broadcast failed to air a message where Hamilton offered to yield position to teammate Charles Leclerc, removing vital context and making the subsequent radio exchanges sound like the seven-time world champion was opposing the team`s decision to swap positions.
And then on Sunday, amidst the intense South Florida heat that coincided with one of Ferrari`s weakest performances of 2025, a series of radio messages ignited a controversy around team orders after the Miami Grand Prix checkered flag fell.
What Happened?
Stripping away the soundbites, Ferrari`s fundamental problem in Miami was a lack of performance. Radio communications, questionable strategy, and all the frustrations during or after the race stemmed from uncompetitive lap times throughout the weekend. A simple look at the final race standings shows the extent of their struggles: Leclerc finished seventh, a full 57 seconds behind winner Oscar Piastri, with Hamilton right behind in eighth.
Instead of battling Mercedes and Max Verstappen`s Red Bull for the final podium spot behind the dominant McLarens, Ferrari found themselves struggling to hold off Carlos Sainz in the slower Williams, while Alex Albon in the sister Williams finished nine seconds ahead of Leclerc in fifth. For a team that was only 14 points adrift of last year`s constructors` champion McLaren, it was another in a series of tough awakenings in 2025.
The gap between Ferrari`s pre-season expectations and their actual race pace only amplified tensions when Leclerc and Hamilton found themselves racing nose-to-tail in the second half of the event. Following different strategies based on their starting grid positions (Leclerc started eighth on medium tires, Hamilton 12th on hards), the races of the two Ferraris began to converge around lap 32, becoming tightly intertwined by lap 38.
Hamilton had gained on Leclerc thanks to a perfectly timed pit stop from hards to mediums during a Virtual Safety Car, whereas Leclerc had switched from mediums to hards under normal racing conditions a few laps earlier. Racing closely together on lap 34, they executed a coordinated overtake on Sainz; Leclerc passed the Williams into Turn 1, simultaneously creating an opportunity for Hamilton to slip by at the same corner.
Hamilton, running on a softer compound tire with potentially more immediate pace, was the quicker Ferrari at that moment, but he was wary of damaging his tires by following in his teammate`s turbulent air. Andrea Kimi Antonelli in sixth place was five seconds ahead, and Hamilton felt he could potentially chase down the Mercedes driver if he could just get past Leclerc.
`I`m just burning up my tires behind him,` Hamilton said over team radio on lap 36. `You want me to just sit here the whole race?`
Adami responded:
`We`ll come back to you.`
Such exchanges have become characteristic of Ferrari`s team radio in recent years. The driver, confined in the cockpit as events unfold at high speed, seeks an immediate decision, only for the pit wall to effectively place them on hold.
With Sainz still only 1.5 seconds behind, Ferrari`s strategists were concerned a driver swap could slow both cars down and negate the successful combined overtake from lap 34.
Adami eventually returned the call, saying:
`We want to keep the DRS to Charles, go ahead like this. Carlos behind 1.5.`
As Hamilton`s pace advantage over his teammate became undeniably clear, Ferrari finally agreed to a swap on lap 38. By this point, Hamilton appeared to be losing patience.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc ended up racing together in the Miami Grand Prix due to differing strategies.
`This is not good teamwork, that`s all I`m going to say,` he stated. `In China, I got out the way …`
Adami interrupted with:
`We swap the cars.`
To which Hamilton sharply retorted:
`Have a tea break while you`re at it, come on!`
Over the following 12 laps, Hamilton managed to halve the gap to Antonelli, reducing it to 2.5 seconds. However, with each passing lap, his tire advantage over Leclerc diminished, and by lap 44, the two Ferraris were once again separated by only a second. Until they swapped back on lap 53 of 57, Leclerc experienced frustrations similar to Hamilton`s earlier.
`I think we should have discussed a little bit more before doing the swap, because you`re trying to go to the end with those tires,` Leclerc said after the race. `I`m trying to do a good job with my tires and then everything is tricky.
`I did not expect Carlos to be so close [behind]. All of this made the situation a bit trickier, but I think there`s plenty for us to look at. As I said, we need to do a step and we need to be robust enough that whenever we find ourselves in those situations, we do better.`
Hamilton commented that the laps spent stuck behind Leclerc had reduced his tire life, but he remained unsure if he would have had enough pace to catch Antonelli even if the initial swap had happened earlier.
`I lost quite a bit of the tires in that, which is OK,` he admitted. `We were battling for position at the end of the day, but it would have been great if we could have maybe done what Valtteri [Bottas, Hamilton`s former teammate at Mercedes] and I did in Budapest years ago where move, see if I can catch him, if I can`t, move back. But ultimately, it didn`t work out.
`Whether or not we could have overtaken the Mercedes, at the end of the day, we were not quick enough. And that`s probably where the frustration has come from.`
Regarding the tone of his messages to Adami during the race, Hamilton added:
`It wasn`t even anger. It wasn`t like, `effing` and `blinding` and anything like that. It`s like, `Make a decision!` You`re sitting there on the chair, you`ve got the stuff in front of you, make the decision, quick. That`s how I was, I was me, we`re in a panic, we`re trying to keep the car on the track. We`re computing things fast.`
When told his radio messages were the most entertaining part of the race, Hamilton laughed and replied:
`Jeez, I mean, it was all PG at least, right?
`I`ve still got my fire in my belly. I could feel a bit of it really coming up there. I`m not going to apologize for being a fighter. I`m not going to apologize for still wanting it.
`I didn`t think the decision came quick enough. And for sure, in that time you`re like, `Come on!` But that`s really kind of it. I have no problems with the team or with Charles. I think we could do better, but the car is not where we really need to be. Ultimately we`re fighting for seventh and eighth.`
How Did Ferrari Explain the Decision?
After the race, team principal Frédéric Vasseur met with Hamilton in Ferrari`s hospitality area to discuss the events before Hamilton spoke to the media. Vasseur, who has maintained a close relationship with Hamilton for over two decades, stated the conversation was intended to explain the pit wall`s perspective, rather than simply a PR exercise.
`My concern is not that he has to speak with TV, it`s that we need to be clear between us that, in this situation, he has to understand what was my feeling on the pit wall,` Vasseur said. `He can trust me, I can trust him and the same with Charles. And when I have to take a decision, I`m taking a decision for Ferrari.`
Hamilton also shared his account of the meeting on Sunday evening.
`Fred came to my room. I just put my hand on his shoulder and was like, `Dude, calm down. Don`t be so sensitive,“ he recalled. `I could have said way worse things on the radio. You hear some of the things others have said in the past.
`Some of it was sarcasm, but look, you`ve got to understand we`re under a huge amount of pressure within the car. You`re never going to get the most peaceful messages coming through in the heat of the battle.`
Vasseur explained that the delay in the first driver swap was due to the team wanting to confirm whether Hamilton had a genuine pace advantage from his softer tires or was merely benefiting from being within DRS range of Leclerc. Hamilton was within one second of Leclerc (and thus in DRS range) from lap 35 until lap 38 when the swap happened, although Vasseur claimed only about a lap and a half was lost making the decision.
`Let`s go directly to the point: it didn`t take so long,` he stated. `It was one lap and a half or something like this. And when we have two cars, not with the same strategy, the first thing for me to understand if [Hamilton`s car] is faster when you are behind due to the DRS or not. It took us one lap.`
He added:
`It`s not the story of the day whether we [finished] 6-7, instead of 7-6 or 6-7 or 7-6. I would be much more keen to speak about why we finished one minute behind McLaren.`
Beyond the tense radio exchanges, the main reality for Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur is that his team significantly lacks pace in 2025.
Can Ferrari Turn the Tide?
In sports, gaining real-time access to participants` conversations, like those on Ferrari`s team radio, is rare. It`s natural for things said intensely during competition to lose some context when simply written down. It`s also important to remember Hamilton`s frustration was directed at the team`s strategy decisions, not directly at Adami, who conveyed the messages but didn`t make the swap call.
Nevertheless, Ferrari`s decision-making process at a crucial point in the race appeared muddled, and both drivers were completely justified in expressing their frustration and arguing their case.
`There`s no bad feelings with Lewis, not at all,` Leclerc said. `I understand as well that Lewis is trying to do something different, so I appreciate that. I would have done the same thing if I was him and trying to be a bit more aggressive with the medium tires.
`We need to separate the two things. Yes, we need to fix those [strategy] issues that probably cost us one position, but the other seven or six positions are down to the car and we need to make it better.`
On this core message, Ferrari is unified: the car simply isn`t fast enough to challenge for wins or podiums consistently.
An upgrade package is anticipated for the upcoming triple header at Imola, Monaco, and Spain. On Sunday, Hamilton hinted at a potential fix for issues he`s encountered since his car was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix for running too low to the ground.
`Something`s holding us back at the moment,` he stated. `We`ve lost performance since China — and it`s there, it`s just we can`t use it. Until we get a fix for that, then this is where we are.
`Still, for us, we`re battling with the Williams here, so we`re clearly not as quick as we want to be. I truly believe that when we fix some of the problems that we have with the car, we`ll be back in the fight with the Mercedes, with the Red Bulls.
`It just can`t come quick enough.`
