Did Lewis Hamilton refuse to obey Ferrari when they ordered him to let his team mate past?
Or did Formula 1 misleadingly edit Ferrari’s radio messages during their live Chinese Grand Prix broadcast, giving a false impression that Hamilton had disobeyed his team?Comparing what was actually said on the radio with what was played out, Ferrari could justifiably claim Formula One Management misrepresented Hamilton’s words. Those who only heard the portion played on the world feed could easily have formed the wrong impression.
However, listening to Ferrari’s radio messages in full also reveals why the radio confusion happened in the first place. Moreover, it shows Leclerc had to wait much longer to be let by than it seemed from the world feed.
The situation began to play out on lap 18, after the Ferrari drivers had made their first pit stops. Hamilton pitted first, but although he gained the benefit of the ‘undercut’, he lost time passing Liam Lawson. Leclerc cleared the Red Bull more quickly and arrived on the tail of his team mate, who was now trying to find a way past Oliver Bearman.
By lap 17 both had passed Bearman and were now closing on Stroll. But on the next lap Hamilton gave his race engineer Riccardo Adami an unusual message: He said he was considering whether to let Leclerc by. Significantly, this message was not played on the world feed.
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| Lap: 16/56 LEC: 1’55.134, HAM: 1’37.942 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bozzi | Next car is Lewis. | Adami | Mind your tyres in the high-speed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | Charles car behind, 0.4. Hamilton passes Bearman at turn 14 |
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| Lap: 17/56 LEC: 1’37.426, HAM: 1’37.531 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | Target… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | I don’t seem to have plenty of rear. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | Understood. Target 100 metre, lift and coast, total. B-bal 58. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 18/56 LEC: 1’38.380, HAM: 1’37.834 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bozzi | SOC seven. | Hamilton | I think I’m going to let Charles go, because I’m struggling. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leclerc | Copy that. | Adami | Understood. Manage more the tyres in high speed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hamilton may have only tentatively suggested switching positions but Ferrari reacted immediately, ordering their drivers to swap places that same lap. Clearly, Hamilton was not prepared to go along with that right away, and drove past turn 14 without backing off as instructed.
| Bozzi | Exit turn 10 And we will swap the cars in turn 14. |
Adami | We’re going to swap the cars into turn 14, one-four. |
| Bozzi | And Lewis will let you by into turn 14. |
The next time around Ferrari went through the same process and got the same result. Hamilton told them he was waiting for Leclerc to get closer to him.
By the end of lap 19 Leclerc had been waiting two laps to get by and those watching the world television feed had heard no messages indicating this was the case.
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| Lap: 19/56 LEC: 1’36.907, HAM: 1’37.075 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bozzi | Exit turn 13 We will swap the cars into turn 14. |
Adami | Diff mid three, suggestion. And George ahead lap time 38.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | We are swapping cars, turn 14. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hamilton | I will when he’s closer. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FOM played the first radio message indicating the discussions taking place at Ferrari on lap 20. This was a message from the previous lap, when Adami told Hamilton: “We are swapping cars turn 14,” to which the driver replied: “When he’s closer, yeah.”
Anyone watching the feed without access to the drivers’ full radio communications would have been unaware that Hamilton had suggested the position swap two laps earlier. They would also be unaware Ferrari had told Leclerc shortly afterwards the swap was about to happen.
On lap 20, for the third lap in a row, Ferrari called for a position swap at turn 14 which did not happen.
| Lap: 20/56 LEC: 1’37.299, HAM: 1’37.469 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leclerc | (Unclear) | Hamilton | Pit straight If he can’t get the cars ahead, he can let us… out his way. Right now I’m closing up a little bit. |
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| Bozzi | This is what he’s been told. | Adami | Okay understood. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adami | Exit turn 12 Do we want to swap this now? |
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| Hamilton | I’ll tell you when we’re going to swap. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
That provoked Leclerc’s disappointed reaction, which was broadcast around the same time Hamilton finally let him through, at turn one instead of 14.
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| Lap: 21/56 LEC: 1’37.160, HAM: 1’39.319 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leclerc | This is a shame. The pace is there. Hamilton lets Leclerc past in turn one |
Adami | B-bal 59, suggestion. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bozzi | Well done, sorry about that. Keep pushing. SOC 6 when you want. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bozzi | So you are the fastest car out there. Let’s go, Charles. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Clearly, the impression FOM created of Hamilton’s messages is misleading. What’s more, they did so mere days after Hamilton complained about the negative reaction to clips of his radio which were played during the Australian Grand Prix, which arguably gave the impression his relationship with Adami was not going well.
However the full exchange also shows how Hamilton’s original, equivocal message was at odds with Ferrari’s immediate reaction to it. He expected to have time to dictate the position swap on his terms, while Ferrari were eager to get the position swap done immediately.
Ferrari needs to improve how it handles this sort of communication. But it is not a new problem they have developed since Hamilton joined. In Las Vegas last year Leclerc was aggravated by how the team managed him and his previous team mate.
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Riccard
23rd March 2025, 16:39
Watching the race on Sky, the commentators mentioned the messages that weren’t played (they had presumably been told by others in the Sky team), so it was always clear what was happening.
I don’t know how the situation seemed on the official feed – it would be good to hear from someone who watched that live – but for Sky viewers it was always clear and (for that group of people anyway) there’s nothing for Ferrari to complain about.
Mind you, I have every sympathy for anyone in Ferrari feeling a bit put upon or tetchy after having both their cars disqualified. It’s been a rough day for them.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
23rd March 2025, 18:49
My memory is not that great, but I think the initial message (Hamilton’s proposal to switch) was not mentioned on F1TV.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
23rd March 2025, 20:41
Channel 4 didn’t mention the proposal either, although that’s an edited highlights and it probably knew that they’d be swapped over pretty soon in airplay terms. Playing the justification might have risked extending the episode excessively compared to its importance to the race, and it did broadcast one of Hamilton’s requests for Leclerc to get closer.
Edvaldo
23rd March 2025, 16:52
The only thing i got from the source i watched was them telling him to let Leclerc pass in turn 14 and him saying he’ll do it when he gets closer. Nothing else.
Then it just happened.
David BR (@david-br)
23rd March 2025, 16:59
Exactly, no mention that it was initially Hamilton’s idea!!
So just unfortunate editing or deliberate and cynical manipulation by F1? Are we really supposed to give them the benefit of the doubt? Drivers fined for swearing but F1 get to generate false stories and cause potential team disruption by, essentially, creating falsehoods for audience manipulation purposes?
I know how I’d react to this.
chmateus (@chmateus)
23rd March 2025, 16:54
The FIA must remove all drivers/teams communications from TV.
If they want “drama”, they should go to the theatre.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
23rd March 2025, 18:27
+1
I wouldn’t remove all but it should go back to the way it was before Liberty took over: just the essential information
Kribana (@krichelle)
23rd March 2025, 17:03
FOM knowing that it will be a boring season by trying to transform the race into DTS. Can someone tell them that this will just turn off a lot more fans bigtime? This sport ain’t a scripted movie for crying out loud.
David BR (@david-br)
23rd March 2025, 17:07
In terms of F1, they turned a narrative of Hamilton being a team player, offering to let Leclerc pass, into Hamilton being a non-team player, reluctant to do so. That’s quite something and Hamilton and Ferrari should let them know where to stick their manipulation.
In terms of Ferrari, not good enough. Leclerc was on the same strategy as Hamilton, seemed unable to pass him, though apparently a bit faster, and there was no guarantee he could pass Russell once ‘unleashed.’ And he in fact he didn’t. In those circumstances, I think it’s reasonable that Hamilton, having made the offer – which he didn’t need to and shouldn’t be forced to (it’s up to his rival – here a team mate – to pass him on track unless there are additional factors: different strategies, his team mate needs the points etc.) – should be able to decide where and when in order to minimize the effect on his own race.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
23rd March 2025, 20:44
@david-br Different strategies were in play, though I don’t think that had been settled 100% at the point this discussion was taking place.
Dave
23rd March 2025, 17:24
It is a fact all driver’s want to race for iconic Ferrari at some part of their careers.
It is also known no driver is bigger than Ferrari. Evidently Lewis didn’t get the message.
He still acts like it’s world and everyone just lives in. Today’s incident was not a big deal but is there any reason to believe he will act differently than he did at Mer or McLaren for that matter?
Lewis will not change. He couldn’t if he wanted to is it is what is is.
Stay tuned:)
Spencer (@spencer)
23rd March 2025, 17:43
There was no “incident” It was literally Lewis’ suggestion to swap. Not sure how much more of a team player he can be. He was only questioning the instruction of where on the track to proceed swapping positions.
PeteB (@peteb)
23rd March 2025, 17:47
…and that’s why you should read the article before commenting. :D
David BR (@david-br)
23rd March 2025, 18:28
@peteb Or have the mental capacity to be able to comment without producing drivel.
Dave
23rd March 2025, 20:01
Well Hamilton said that but changed his mind and kept LeClerc back too long. He also “got on” Adami again for not keeping him updated on where he was slowest on the track. In both races so far there has been friction to some degree between him and Adami.
He’s worked with one engineer (Bono) for many years and now he’s in a very different culture which makes it edifficult for both parties. Not a good marriage in my estimation but then again he won the Sprint so I could be wrong. We shall see.
someone or something
23rd March 2025, 21:41
Every time someone calls him “LeClerc”, I wish LeProsy unto them!
Elvira
24th March 2025, 3:58
My internal voice pronounces it Chuck le Cluck with a subliminal flash of a little red rooster – also irritating.
Riccard
24th March 2025, 8:17
Someone, it did originally start as the words Le and Clerc and fuse together over the generations.
It’s more like writing Neil ArmStrong or Neville LongBottom
Shane Smith
24th March 2025, 23:57
It would have been smart for Leclerc to stay behind a little nit longer because Lewis had closed to 1.6 of George. He could have unleashed him closer
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
23rd March 2025, 20:44
Successful drivers at Ferrari rarely get the point they’re smaller than Ferrari consistently.
nunof
24th March 2025, 12:02
Your comment is the reason why we are having this discussion. You were led to believe in something that is false because the way FOM aired the radio feed was misleading, similarly to what Drive to Survive has done and a few drivers have complained about it, the last, more vocal, being Lando.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
24th March 2025, 12:14
@nunof +1 :-) We’ve never seen a driver suggest that he let his teammate through as he’s struggling. Yet people are so set in their ways, that they assume that he wasn’t letting Leclerc through.
Sometimes nothing you do can please those people.
Nikki
24th March 2025, 4:28
I’m not sure what the issue is here with the broadcasting? What’s your point exactly, Keith? The only thing missing was Lewis’ initial message, but the commentators repeated it a few times which this was going on anyways. And it doesn’t omit any material facts.
Dave The Drummer (@davethedrummer)
24th March 2025, 9:25
I was watching the Channel 4 highlights coverage and definitely formed the impression that Hamilton was not doing as the team suggested. That’s how the radio was played out and as a viewer you get what you’ve given. That’s what we were given so that’s what it seemed like.
It is very clear that the radio communications were not played out in the correct order allowing this erroneous view to be formed by those watching.
This is not good. It’s tantamount to misrepresentation, which, once the truth is known, makes it very easy for a listener to start thinking that it was intentional by those producers wanting to create controversy, where none exists, in order to generate hype.
F1 is better than this.
SteveP
24th March 2025, 10:05
Now there’s a good point to debate.
Misrepresentation by selective editing, when all they really need to do is introduce a 5-10 second delay and bleep/blank out the not-safe-for-children elements.
F1 was dragged to a major low by Masi AD21, they should be making every effort to present truthful, accurate content.
Ferdi
24th March 2025, 11:53
They are not to be trusted that is for sure. Shareholder value will always win from being sportive or fair with the current FIA/FOM/Liberty consortium. Add their partner Netflix with their Hollywood style DTS show and you have a perfect storm of insincerity.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
24th March 2025, 12:16
Sky corrected the narrative by explaining that it was Hamilton’s call to swap but if the commentators didn’t do that then people would have incorrectly assumed that Lewis wasn’t playing ball and that falls squarely on the radio editors shoulders.
Roberto Fratelli (@rfratelli)
24th March 2025, 13:38
Exactly. i was at world feed and had no idea that HAM suggested it firsthand…