Lewis Hamilton says he won’t apologise for his radio comments at the F1 2025 Miami GP as insists he’s a fighter who wants to win, following another tense exchange with Ricciardo Adami.
The Brit’s relationship with his new engineer is off to a rocky start thanks to communication issues in Australia and now this time with strategic execution at the Miami International Autodrome.
The 40-year-old became irritated at the Scuderia pit wall for their lack of decisiveness when he requested to swap positions with Charles Leclerc, who appeared slower whilst on the hard compound.
However, the team took several laps to make the call as the seven-time world champion continued to put the pressure on them to do so, becoming increasingly irate over the radio waves.
Eventually he got let through but didn’t have the speed to open up a gap to his teammate and was later told to give up seventh place, something he was also less than keen to hear.
Yet whilst he doesn’t feel as though he was rude, Hamilton feels he isn’t in the wrong and as a result won’t apologise to Ferrari for his radio comments at the F1 2025 Miami GP. Here’s why:
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“Honestly, I don’t feel it was,” Hamilton told members of the media, including Total-Motorsport.com of if he was being disrespectful. “I was just like, ‘Come on, guys, I just want to win.’”
“I still have that fire in my belly. I could feel it building up, and I’m not going to apologise for being a fighter. I’m not going to apologize for still wanting it, and I know everyone in the team does too.
“I truly believe that when we fix some of the problems with the car, we’ll be back in the fight with Mercedes and the Bulls.
“It just can’t come quick enough, but we’ll try something different at the next race. We’ll keep working on our processes. I look forward to the time when maybe I can fight for a podium, that would be nice.”
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Hamilton is used to the smoother operations of Mercedes, who are known for their reputation of swift and decisive decision-making with a clear chain of accountability from the driver through to Toto Wolff, the team principal.
By contrast, Ferrari have become an online joke for years for exactly the opposite reason with their infamously signature, ‘We are checking,” line a particular target on social media.
And Hamilton seemed as though he missed the execution of the Silver Arrows on May 4 as he recalled how he and the team previously handled such a situation, reflecting to the 2017 Hungarian GP.
“I lost quite a bit of the tyres in that,” Hamilton told members of the media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “But that’s okay. We were battling for position at the end of the day.
“But it would have been great if we could have done what Valtteri [Bottas] and I did back in Budapest years ago. Just move, see if I can catch him and if I can’t, then move back. But ultimately, it didn’t work out.
“Whether or not we could have overtaken him [Antonelli], at the end of the day we’re not quick enough; and that’s probably where the frustration came from. But we’ll keep our heads up and keep pushing.”
On that day, Bottas was third behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen whilst Hamilton, who had radio issues, was running in fourth position at the Hungaroring.
When his comms opened back up, he told his engineer he was quicker than his Finnish teammate and asked to be let through, on the condition that if he couldn’t pass either of the two Ferrari cars then he would give the place back.
Mercedes agreed and swapped but the then-three-time champion couldn’t catch Raikkonen. On the final corner of the final lap, he let Bottas through, despite Red Bull‘s Max Verstappen being close – earning a nod of approval from his father for his integrity.
