Lewis Hamilton would have infuriated Ferrari with his stinging radio message after he fired shots at the team for overseeing a strategic disaster during the Formula 1 2025 Miami Grand Prix.
That’s according to F1 expert Ewan Gale, who gave their takes on the Scuderia’s baffling team orders during the latest episode of The Total Motorsport F1 Show after another dismal result for the Scuderia.
Leclerc and Hamilton came home in seventh and eighth respectively in the Sunshine State, just a day after Hamilton had secured a podium finish in the F1 Sprint. It came after Ferrari were slow to swap their drivers around when in pursuit of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli. It took four laps for the switch to occur, leaving Hamilton too far behind before Ferrari swapped their drivers again.
The seven-time world champion’s sarcastic comments would have embarrassed Ferrari’s strategists after he said “have a tea break while you’re at it”, taking aim at their indecisiveness, while Leclerc questioned the slow process that saw the drivers swap positions not once but twice and the Monegasque labelled it ‘stupid’.
But Gale spotted another act of frustration from the 40-year-old which would’ve perhaps irritated his bosses at Ferrari.
“Hamilton’s on the softer rubber – the medium compared to Leclerc’s hard [tyre] – and anyone that has watched F1 over the past three races knows ‘let him through’. If he doesn’t make the move, later on you switch them back around,” he said.
More from the Singapore GP
Catch up with Total Motorsport's latest Singapore GP coverage, including Max Verstappen's victory at Marina Bay, Ferrari's costly strategy gamble, the full race classification, and the updated 2026 Formula 1 Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings.
“It’s just blindingly obvious, and they waited four laps. Lewis was calling for it, and that’s when the sarcasm came out. It’s funny to look at it sometimes, but it cost them positions.”
He later added: “It was very telling from Lewis that there was one radio message at the end of the whole situation which I think was completely for show because Ferrari will hate it. They’re the team of Italy rather than a racing team and they’re very proud about what they do.
“The fact he came on the radio after Leclerc had gone through, and they gave him the gap to Sainz behind. They said ‘the gap to Sainz is 1.4′ and he [Hamilton] said ‘do you want me to let him through as well?’ I think he knows what he’s doing with that message.
“In the same way that Fernando Alonso mentioned the ‘GP2 engine’ to describe the Honda engine in the back of the McLaren [back in 2015], it was bad all season but he [Alonso] waited until Japan.
“These guys know what they’re doing when they say certain things on the radio and I thought that was very telling from Hamilton. It was a shot off the backside if you like to say ‘come on, we need to sort this out’.”
Ferrari duo frustration over poor form
The result left the Prancing Horse even further behind their rivals in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship, with Williams outscoring the Italian manufacturer on Sunday thanks to Alex Albon’s P5 finish.
F1 expert Brandon Sutton believed the hostility on the radio was a clear example of how the drivers are unhappy with the team’s lack of pace: “The radio exchanges in part were a large amount of frustration at the fact they were seventh and eighth, and both of them felt they did a good race,” he said.
“They were a minute off the lead behind the McLarens and probably drove around the Miami circuit thinking ‘what’s really the point of this?’ if you’re that far out of contention that you’re racing the Williams.
“It’s probably just frustration at the race picture, especially from Hamilton, who finished the sprint race in third the day prior. I’m sure the drivers will make sure the team get on top of it, but I’m not going to be shocked if other issues flare up.”
