Leclerc symphatises with Hamilton after team orders calls: 'I would have done the same'

14:56, 05 May

byKada Sarkozi

The Miami Grand Prix turned out to be a disappointing one for Ferrari. After Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished in P7 and P8 respectively and multiple team order calls, the Monegasque driver reflected on what took place during their second stint.

Ferrari made multiple 'swap positions' orders in the state of Florida. First, Hamilton asked his team to be ahead having a set of mediums on his car. Towards the end of the race however, as Charles Leclerc's hards came alive, he was given the position back.

"Most of the time I say something, today I don't think I'll say anything," Leclerc began to GPblog and others in the paddock, reacting to what took place.

"I think the story is going to be big enough already and we need to do better, that's for sure. Today was not ideal and was far from maximising our potential, but we've got to regroup as a team and be better."

Lewis Hamilton in action during the Miami Grand Prix 2025.

Leclerc understands Hamilton

According to Leclerc, his team will have to do better in the future in making these decision.

"I just think we maybe should have discussed a little bit more before doing the swap, obviously you are trying to go to the end with those tyres, so I'm trying to do a good job with my tyres and then everything is tricky, then I did not expect Carlos to be so close, so all of this made the situation a little bit trickier."

He continued: "But again I think there's plenty for us to look at. And as I said we need to understand. And we need to be robust enough that whenever we find ourselves in those situations, we do better."

The Monegasque driver also underlined that he understands Hamilton's point of view in that situation. "I understand as well that he wanted to try and do something different, I appreciate that. I mean, I would have done the same thing if I was him and trying to be a bit more aggressive with the medium tyres. There's no bad feelings with Lewis, not at all. I understand that he wants to try and optimise as much as I want to try and optimise the car potential. The car potential is just this, which is frustrating," Leclerc concluded.

This article was written in collaboration with Mitchell van der Hoef