- Lewis Hamilton endured another difficult afternoon before being disqualified
- The 40-year-old was ordered by Ferrari to allow Charles Leclerc to overtake him
- Hamilton had to be reminded more than once to let Leclerc through before he did
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has accused Formula One of blowing Lewis Hamilton‘s clash with a team engineer out of proportion in order to stir up drama.
In-race radio messages seemingly showed Hamilton and his race engineer Riccardo Adami in conflict over the decision to let his team-mate Charles Leclerc overtake him during the Chinese Grand Prix.
Despite front wing damage, Leclerc was all over the back of Hamilton’s car in a battle for fourth place as the seven-time champion struggled for pace.
The broadcast then showed Adami calling for Hamilton to ‘swap now’ with Leclerc in the lead-up to turn 14 with the 40-year-old clapping back with ‘I’ll tell you when we can swap’.
He eventually moved over – before the pair were ultimately disqualified from the race – but for the second week in a row, the messages left many questioning the relationship between Hamilton and Adami.
However, Vasseur has said that broadcasters purposely didn’t reveal previous radio messages which showed the new Ferrari driver instigating the idea for Leclerc to move through.
Fred Vasseur believes Formula One stirred up drama by not revealing all of the radio messages between Lewis Hamilton and his engineer
Broadcasters didn’t share that Hamilton said that he wanted to let Charles Leclerc through first
A seemingly heated exchange then ensued between Hamilton and his race engineer before he allowed Leclerc to eventually overtake him
‘This is a joke from FOM, because the first call came from Lewis – that Lewis asked us to swap,’ the Prancing Horse’s team principal revealed.
‘But to make the show, to create the mess around the situation, they broadcast only the second part of the question. I will discuss with them.’
The first exchange – which was not shown by broadcasters – was from Hamilton in which he admitted his struggles and stated: ‘I think I’m going to let Charles go’.
He was then ordered to focus on tyre management and that the cars could swap at turn 14. However, this was not shown on coverage either.
The first message to be broadcast was Adami telling Hamilton ‘we are swapping cars, Turn 14’, but this came after Lance Stroll held up Leclerc.
It led to the Briton saying he would let the Monagasque through when he is ‘closer’ as the gap has increased due to Stroll’s interference.
After those messages were broadcasted, he also said: If he can’t get the guys ahead, he can let us back [through]. Right now, I’m closing up a little bit.’
As Hamilton was closing in on George Russell, it seemed like he had changed his mind on letting Leclerc pass him.
Hamilton was ultimately disqualified for running his Ferrari too close to the ground
Leclerc was also expelled from the race standings for his car finishing under weight regulations
The double DQ in the same Grand Prix marks a disappointing first for Ferrari in Formula One
Then came the heated exchange between Hamilton and Adami, in which the former told the latter that he would tell him when he could make the swap happen, insinuating it was his call to make.
Two turns later, he would ultimately move aside to let Leclerc fly through and would end up finishing down in sixth, with his team-mate just a position higher after Max Verstappen overtook him late on.
‘I don’t want to be harsh with all of you, but you made a huge storyline,’ continued Vasseur. ‘When Lewis came back to the briefing room he said to his engineer “good job”.
‘But because they are discussing how to use K1 and “don’t speak when I’m in the fight”, I had tons of questions: “Ah is it a mess?”. But no, that’s life. And we are just there to get performance.’
Nevertheless, the pair would be disqualified. Hamilton was stripped of his eight points for running his Ferrari too close to the ground. Leclerc was also expelled, but rather for driving an underweight car.
The decision – which came three hours after the chequered flag – marks the first time in the history of Formula One that both Ferrari drivers have been disqualified from the same race.