Lewis Hamilton surprised the Formula One paddock following the 2025 Miami Grand Prix, with his light hearted attitude, lack of complaints and sunny demeanour. This was in stark contrast to the day he arrived in Florida, when his sullen interviews were described as monosyllabic and downbeat.
In the chaos of the wet/dry Sprint, Lewis made an early call to switch to the dry compound tyres whilst others were debating whether the circuit was dry enough. When told the team were preparing the medium tyre for him, Hamilton’s response was “No” as he demanded they fit a set of soft tyres.
Lewis returned to the fray down in twelfth position, but as others began to make their stop for fresh rubber, Hamilton with his tyres up to temperature and pressure carved his way through the field. The world champion struggled to keep Lewis behind and after just one lap the Ferrari blew through as though it was from a superior racing series.
Hamilton down and up in Miami
Just a lap later a heavy crash from Alonso saw the safety car deployed which remained on track until the final corner of the last lap. Hamilton again was on the podium in a Sprint. Not the win he had in the Chinese event but a respectable P3 whilst Verstappen dropped down to P17 after being awarded a ten second penalty by the race stewards.
Hamilton’s sunny disposition didn’t last long, as a few hours later in qualifying Ferrari made another of their famous strategic blunders. Both Leclerc and Hamilton were struggling for pace and in Q2 the team made a strange decision, to save a new set of the soft tyres for the top ten shootout.
This clearly did not sit well with Lewis who complained after the session saying “I mean it doesn’t make sense when you’re struggling so much not to put two new sets on, to utilise the sets.” Hamilton finished the session just 0.054 seconds behind his team mate, but such was the close intensity of the on track battles, Lewis was to finish in P12, while Leclerc made it through to the pole position shootout in P8.
When the lights went out for the Grand Prix, Hamilton dispatched Isack Hadjar on lap four before getting stuck behind the Haas of Esteban Ocon for the next fifteen circulations of the Autodromo Miami. On the harder tyre Hamilton ran longer than a number of those ahead of him but made little progress until he benefitted hugely from a virtual safety car.
Team radio tempers frayed
With most other runners on the softer and less durable compound having stopped already, Hamilton ran long and benefitted from the field travelling at 40% of top speed under the VSC, this catapulted him into eight place three seconds behind his team mate.
Lewis closed on Leclerc at a second a lap asking the team to consider telling his team mate to allow him through. Having heard nothing, two laps later Lewis asked what the final decision was and was told to hold position in there DRS behind Leclerc.
This infuriated the new Ferrari driver who expressed his anger saying, “Man, you guys…” He followed this up reminding the team of a decision he’d made during the Grand Prix in China. “This is not good teamwork, that’s all I’m going to say. In China, I got out the way when you wanted me to.”
Lewis was again told to wait while the strategy team continued their deliberations to which he resounded, “Have a tea break while you’re at it. Come on!” By the time the decision was made to switch the cars around, Hamilton revealed he had burned his tyres out whilst following closely behind Leclerc for several laps. He was unable to close the gap to Antonelli by much and with two laps remaining he was told to allow Leclerc through.
Lewis tells Vasseur to “clam down”
When told of how close Williams Alex Albon was to his new position, he replied with sarcasm, “Do you want me to let him through as well?”
Clearly concerned about the very public rift within his team, Fred Vasseur was there to meet Hamilton as he extracted himself from his SF-25. The Frenchman put his arm around Hamilton’s shoulder, though later he was clearly upset as he entered his drivers private ready room.
Hamilton revealed later he had told Vasseur to “calm down” suggesting the tone of his radio messages was nothing to be concerned about and that much of it was “sarcastic.” Clearly Hamilton felt he needed to make amends for the divisions he’d brought about over team radio and was the last driver in the media pen following the chequered flag.
The USA’s most successful woman racer in modern times, Danika Patrick was Sky F1’s guest expert for the weekend. She remarked after seeing an interview with Hamilton: “My what time does to temperament, to be the last one in the last one in the pen. He’s much more cool, smiling, I mean that’s the first time I feel like I’ve heard that we know what it is, so that’s a positive.”
Hamilton compares favourably in the interviews
Jenson Button sagely interjected, “Yeah, we’re talking about communication in the car, but also communication in interviews, he came across really well, didn’t he Lewis, compared to the rest of the team.”
By way of contrast, the Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur was most defensive when questioned about the events which transpired from the Ferrari pitfall. “I can understand the frustration of the guys in the car,” Vasseur told Sky Sports F1. “But in the end it was well executed.
“Because Lewis was behind Charles and he was with the softer compound. We let him go and as per the rules, the inter-team rules, we swapped back at the end. I think we gave the chance to Lewis to go in front but it was impossible to overtake between them if we don’t let them go.”
“And I think there was the opportunity for Lewis to catch up [Antonelli]. I think we did a good job. You need to understand in this situation if you are faster than the car in front of you because you have the DRS or because you have the pace.
“We took one lap to take the decision and one lap to apply the decision.” Of course the truth is that it was much longer than one lap in reality and Hamilton had proven he was quicker by catching Leclerc at around a second a lap following his pit stop. If it was team protocol to allow Hamilton on the softer tyre through, why was there any debate at all?
Lewis positive after radio row
Lewis surprising breezy attitude, took the heat out of the the calamitous situation Ferrari had created and the temperature had clearly been rising with Lewis telling his boss to “calm down.”
“Firstly, I generally enjoyed the race – I think this weekend, whilst we’re not as quick as we want to be, I feel like I had a better weekend in general,” Hamilton said to assembled media. It might not show necessarily today, but starting 12th it was very hard to overtake here. I got onto the medium tyre and I felt the car really come alive and I felt super optimistic in that moment.”
“All I could see is a Mercedes ahead and I was thinking maybe we can get up to sixth or something, but we lost a lot of time in those laps [behind Leclerc]. I was clearly good for it in that moment, and I didn’t think the decision came quick enough. I have no problems with either team or with Charles, but I think we could do better.”
Is Hamilton’s race engineer safe?
Lewis deals with all the self inflicted problems Ferrari faced throughout the day, yet his positive demeanour reduced the temperature and a possible internal team fight over who was responsible. Whether this was to placate his upset team boss or show he is in in fact in control, is hard to pin down. Yet Ferrari have been making painful strategy decisions for years, it seems theres little they have learned from Hamilton and his long standing relationship with Pete Bennington at Mercedes.
Ricciardo Adami has from the days he was Sebastian Vettel’s race engineer come across as the message boy, rather than someone who is involved in making decisions and in the heat of Miami this was the impression given again. Ferrari changed Leclerc’s race engineer in 2024 with little notice to their driver or anyone else.
Whether Adami remains or is replaced, must be a serious question for Fred Vasseur. Hamilton clearly was a necessary thorn in Ferrari’s side in Miami and he appears to revel in the role which calls on the team to improve on its efforts.
F1 mourning: Passing away shocks fans
Doohan axed as Colapinto steps in for Imola
Storm clouds gather over the Alps: Jack Doohan axed as Franco Colapinto steps in for Imola – A turbulent start to the 2025 Formula One season has culminated in a swift and dramatic change at the Alpine garage. According to multiple sources, including Germany’s often reliable RTL TV network, the French team are preparing to bench Jack Doohan ahead of the upcoming Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, with Franco Colapinto reportedly set to take the second seat.
While official confirmation is yet to come, insiders suggest that the decision has already been made following another disappointing outing for Doohan in Miami. The Australian’s early crash on the opening lap appears to have been the final straw for Flavio Briatore’s Alpine bosses.
This sudden driver change – still unofficial but widely expected – marks one of the most abrupt mid-season changes in recent memory, and signals the end of a rapidly deteriorating relationship between Doohan and the Alpine Formula One project…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
