MIAMI, Florida — You might not expect to hear sounds of optimism from a driver of Lewis Hamilton’s pedigree after an eight-place finish, as the Ferrari driver settled for in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
But optimism was exactly the word Hamilton used to describe his state of mind after the race.
“I generally, I had a good day in general,” began Hamilton when speaking with the media, including SB Nation, after the Miami Grand Prix. “Eighth doesn’t really look like that, but I feel optimistic for the future.
“I think this car really does have performance.
“But something’s holding us back at the moment, which, we’ve lost performance since China. It’s there, it’s just we can’t use it.
“So [until] we get a fix for that, then is where we are. But in the meantime, we can work on all the other stuff, processes, but as I said I came from the same last week. I felt like I generally had a better weekend. To get the third yesterday [in the F1 Sprint race] was a positive.”
Hamilton also addressed some of the radio chatter that the broadcast picked up during some strategy decisions made by the team during the race, as both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were battling each other, and working to chase down Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli who was in sixth place.
The seven-time Drivers’ Champion was asking to be let by Leclerc, as Hamilton’s medium tires were in a better window than Leclerc’s hards. After what seemed like a delay based on how the radio messages were broadcast, Leclerc let Hamilton by.
At one point before the swap, Hamilton was caught on the broadcast suggesting the team “have a tea break while you’re at it” as he waited for the instruction to swap.
But shortly after the switch was made, Leclerc’s hard tires came alive, and he felt he had the stronger pace. He repeatedly pointed out that he needed Hamilton to increase his pace, as all Leclerc was dealing with was dirty air.
Eventually, the call was made to switch back.
The numerous radio messages led to a belief that there was some frustration within the team, but as Team Principal Frederic Vasseur pointed out to the media, including SB Nation, the radio messages shared on the broadcast are on a delay, and we see a tiny fraction of the big picture. Vasseur also stressed that he wants to see his drivers determined to win, because they’re “champions” as he called them.
Hamilton made the same case.
“It was all PG at least, right?” joked Hamilton.
“I still got that fire in my, in my belly. I can feel a little bit of it like, really coming out there, and I’m not gonna apologize for being a fighter,” added Hamilton. “I’m not gonna apologize for still wanting it. And I know everyone in the team does too. And I truly believe that when we fix some of the problems that we have with the car, we’ll be back in the fight with the Mercedes, with the [Red] Bulls and it just can’t come quick enough, “But we’ll try something different in the next race.
“We’ll keep working on our processes.
“I look forward to a time when maybe I can fight for a podium, that would be nice.”
