07/05/2025 06:30
Lewis Hamilton has explained how he wanted Ferrari to deploy a
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes-style team orders solution in the Miami
Grand Prix. After switching to the medium tyres behind the virtual
safety car in Miami, Hamilton was able to close up on the duelling
pair of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, with a battle between the trio
ending with the Ferrari pair scything past. Hamilton then wanted to
be waved through to try and attack Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes for
sixth place on his fresher tyres, although Ferrari dithered on
making the call, leading to exasperation from Hamilton. The pair
did swap, but were then ordered back into their original positions,
with Leclerc taking seventh to Hamilton's eighth, with former
Ferrari driver Sainz banging wheels with current Ferrari one
Hamilton into Turn 17 on the final lap. Afterwards, Hamilton
explained how he had wanted a situation such as the one he and
Bottas deployed at the 2017 Hungarian GP for Mercedes. There,
running fourth, Hamilton was waved through by Bottas to try and
attack Kimi Raikkonen for second place, under the proviso that if
he did not pass the Ferrari, he would cede the place back to
Bottas. He did in out of the final corner, with Hamilton believing
something similar was in the offering in the chase against
Antonelli. "This weekend, whilst we were not as quick as we had
been, I feel like I had a better weekend in general. "The result
might not necessarily show it, but I was 12th and it is hard to
overtake here, I got onto the medium tyre and the car came alive, I
felt super optimistic in that moment. "I was thinking we could get
up to sixth or something like that, but I lost a lot of time in
those laps Charles and I were dancing, I was clearly quicker in
that moment. "The decision did not come quick enough, but I have no
problems with either Charles or the team. "At the end of the day,
it would have been great if we could have maybe done with Valtteri
and I did in the past: move aside to see if I can catch [Antonell],
and if I can't, I give the place back. "But ultimately it didn't
work out as we were not quick enough."
