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Lewis Hamilton & Tea Break Tensions: Champs Frustrating Miami GP with Ferrari
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- Lewis Hamilton & Tea Break Tensions: Champs Frustrating Miami GP with Ferrari
Image: IMAGN Images; Illustration: Sportsnaut
The 2025 Miami Grand Prix was a rough ride for Ferrari, with frustrations spilling beyond just the lap times. Team orders stirred up trouble, marked by heated radio chats between seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton and his race engineer, Riccardo Adami . Watching it all go down, it was obvious Ferrari and its drivers were nowhere near their best that weekend.
Starting on hard tires, Hamilton switched to mediums and found himself stuck behind teammate Charles Leclerc, who was still on hards. He didn't hold back, grumbling about wrecking his tires trailing Leclerc and questioning if he was supposed to stay put. The team's call to hold for DRS advantages didn't sit well with Hamilton snapping that it wasn't "good teamwork." He even brought up the Chinese GP, where he'd let Leclerc pass.
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"Let's not get emotional about it. We're here to race, we're not where we want to be."
After some hesitation, Ferrari greenlit the swap. Hamilton's response dripped with sarcasm: "Have a tea break while you're at it. Come on!" He later explained it was frustration talking, more biting wit than actual anger or disrespect.
"I'm sure people didn't like certain comments, but you've got to understand it was frustrating," Hamilton said after the race. "People say way worse things than what I say. It was more sarcastic than anything, and I'm not frustrated now. We'll work internally, we'll have discussions, and we'll keep pushing."
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Lewis Hamilton's move ahead of Leclerc proved futile
Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Even after moving ahead, Hamilton couldn't break free, and Leclerc soon griped about dirty air. Ferrari flipped the order back , leaving Hamilton to question if they thought he couldn't chase down the car in front. Things got spicier when Carlos Sainz closed in, prompting a tart remark from Hamilton: "What, should I wave him by too?"
After the race, Hamilton admitted the tension, saying he lost serious time behind Leclerc and felt the team was too slow to act. He stressed he had no beef with Leclerc or the crew but thought they could've handled it better. Leclerc agreed it was a messy situation, saying the team needed to step up. He held no grudge against Hamilton, respecting his teammate's drive to get the most out of the car.
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Ultimately, the radio spats underscored a brutal race for Ferrari, finishing seventh and eighth, miles behind the frontrunners. As Hamilton put it, "The car's just not fast enough," a core problem that needs fixing before strategy talks can really matter.
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