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‘We have to do better’ – Frustrated Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to hold internal talks
A ‘frustrated’ Lewis Hamilton has vowed to hold an inquest as he endured yet another race for Ferrari without a podium finish. So too will Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc, who bemoaned a string of questionable strategic calls and insisted the team ‘have to do better’. Hamilton wants answers following Ferrari’s puzzling strategy in MiamiAFP Hamilton and Leclerc finished P8 and P7 respectively at the Miami Grand Prix, meaning the pair’s combined tally of podium finishes this season remains at one through six races. Although both drivers had to deal with a lack of pace from the car, they also were caught in what appeared to be a puzzling race strategy. Hamilton and Leclerc were asked to swap positions not once but twice as they looked to hunt down Mercedes‘ Kimi Antonelli. Instead, the changes proved fruitless as Antonelli finished P6 and one-and-a-half seconds ahead of Leclerc. Hamilton did not hide his frustrations over the mid-race decisions from Ferrari strategists. After enduring a lengthy wait for his team to come up with a decision, Hamilton said sarcastically: “Have a tea break while you’re at it.” The seven-time world champion was quick to downplay the severity of his messages and insisted they were taken ‘out of context’ but remained annoyed about the constant swapping. “In the end we lost a lot of time overtaking each other,” Hamilton told DAZN F1. “At that moment the car felt alive and the tyre was good and I was clearly quicker. “I think a decision should have been taken sooner. I wasn’t getting there. And in those moments it’s frustrating because what’s our goal: ‘Race each other, or try to pass the others?’ Then switching position twice made us lose even more time. Still, I don’t know if we would’ve passed the [Mercedes] because he didn’t have anyone ahead. GettyThe former Mercedes superstar wasn’t a fan of constantly swapping places with Leclerc[/caption] “We’ll talk about it internally. I was frustrated at the time and now I’m not. That’s racing. People are very sensitive and will take it out of context. And people say far worse things than I do, I just used sarcasm.” As for Leclerc, he believed he had a greater need to vent his frustrations with the team over Hamilton such was his anger over how the Miami GP played out. “I don’t know what to say,” Leclerc told DAZN F1. “We definitely have to talk about it internally. We’ll analyse it. And we have to do better. It’s not that we have to try, we have to do better. “I need to talk more with the team than with Lewis. We didn’t do anything wrong. But the decisions we made as a team weren’t the right ones. That’s quite obvious. We have to do better. “I’m not angry with Lewis or anything like that. There was no bad intention, he wanted to maximise the result just like I did. Leclerc was especially critical of the decisions made by Ferrari’s strategistsGetty “We lost a lot of time today and seeing how close we were to Antonelli, it’s a real shame.” Although Miami did not bring a podium result, both Hamilton and Leclerc picked up points that helped keep Ferrari within touching distance of Red Bull in this year’s Constructors’ Standings. Ferrari sit fourth on 94 points, nine behind third-placed Red Bull as McLaren and Mercedes round out the top two with 246 and 141 points respectively. As for the Drivers’ Standings, Hamilton sits seventh on 41 points while Leclerc is fifth with 53 points. The pair will look to improve their fortunes when the grid begins the European stretch of the calendar on May 18 with the Emilia Romagna GP.
A ‘frustrated’ Lewis Hamilton has vowed to hold an inquest as he endured yet another race for Ferrari without a podium finish.
So too will Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc, who bemoaned a string of questionable strategic calls and insisted the team ‘have to do better’.
Hamilton and Leclerc finished P8 and P7 respectively at the Miami Grand Prix, meaning the pair’s combined tally of podium finishes this season remains at one through six races.
Although both drivers had to deal with a lack of pace from the car, they also were caught in what appeared to be a puzzling race strategy.
Hamilton and Leclerc were asked to swap positions not once but twice as they looked to hunt down Mercedes‘ Kimi Antonelli.
Instead, the changes proved fruitless as Antonelli finished P6 and one-and-a-half seconds ahead of Leclerc.
Hamilton did not hide his frustrations over the mid-race decisions from Ferrari strategists.
After enduring a lengthy wait for his team to come up with a decision, Hamilton said sarcastically: “Have a tea break while you’re at it.”
The seven-time world champion was quick to downplay the severity of his messages and insisted they were taken ‘out of context’ but remained annoyed about the constant swapping.
“In the end we lost a lot of time overtaking each other,” Hamilton told DAZN F1.
“At that moment the car felt alive and the tyre was good and I was clearly quicker.
“I think a decision should have been taken sooner. I wasn’t getting there. And in those moments it’s frustrating because what’s our goal: ‘Race each other, or try to pass the others?’ Then switching position twice made us lose even more time. Still, I don’t know if we would’ve passed the [Mercedes] because he didn’t have anyone ahead.
“We’ll talk about it internally. I was frustrated at the time and now I’m not. That’s racing. People are very sensitive and will take it out of context. And people say far worse things than I do, I just used sarcasm.”
As for Leclerc, he believed he had a greater need to vent his frustrations with the team over Hamilton such was his anger over how the Miami GP played out.
“I don’t know what to say,” Leclerc told DAZN F1.
“We definitely have to talk about it internally. We’ll analyse it. And we have to do better. It’s not that we have to try, we have to do better.
“I need to talk more with the team than with Lewis. We didn’t do anything wrong. But the decisions we made as a team weren’t the right ones. That’s quite obvious. We have to do better.
“I’m not angry with Lewis or anything like that. There was no bad intention, he wanted to maximise the result just like I did.
“We lost a lot of time today and seeing how close we were to Antonelli, it’s a real shame.”
Although Miami did not bring a podium result, both Hamilton and Leclerc picked up points that helped keep Ferrari within touching distance of Red Bull in this year’s Constructors’ Standings.
Ferrari sit fourth on 94 points, nine behind third-placed Red Bull as McLaren and Mercedes round out the top two with 246 and 141 points respectively.
As for the Drivers’ Standings, Hamilton sits seventh on 41 points while Leclerc is fifth with 53 points.
The pair will look to improve their fortunes when the grid begins the European stretch of the calendar on May 18 with the Emilia Romagna GP.
