Lewis Hamilton has insisted he will not apologise for remaining fiercely competitive after his terse exchanges and clear frustration with his Ferrari team at the Miami Grand Prix, which he believed merely indicated he was motivated as ever to perform on track.
“I was like, come on guys, I want to win. I’ve still got my fire in my belly,” he said. “I’m not going to apologise for being a fighter. I’m not going to apologise for still wanting it. I know everyone in the team does too.”
Hamilton finished eighth in the race which was won in dominant style by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. During the race Hamilton asked Ferrari to have his teammate Charles Leclerc, who was in front, switch places with him as the British driver was clearly quicker.
He was exasperated at the time the team took took to make the call, dismissively stating, “have a tea break while you’re at it”. He also referred to it as “not good teamwork” and later, after the team switched the two drivers places back, asked with no little sarcasm whether he should also give up a place to the chasing Williams of Carlos Sainz.
However he played down the significance of the exchanges and revealed he and team principal Fred Vasseur had spoken almost immediately after the race, with Hamilton making sure the air was clear between them.
“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 said. “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. 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. It wasn’t even anger. It wasn’t 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.”
Vasseur maintained he was happy with the way the team had called their decisions and that he understood his driver’s position.
“I had a discussion with Lewis and I can perfectly understand the frustration,” he said “They are champions, they want to win races. It’s not easy. It’s never easy. And I didn’t see another team to do it today. That’s why we took the responsibility to do it. We are racing for Ferrari first and honestly I think as a team we did a good job.”
Vasseur also confirmed that the team’s policy if they switch driver positions to allow one to attack a car ahead, and if no advantage is gained and a position is not made, they will revert to the original order as they did in Miami.
