Ferrari team boss slams FOM for manipulating Lewis Hamilton’s team radios in China. Ferrari criticizes FOM for selectively broadcasting Lewis Hamilton’s radio messages in China.

Collaboration is not lacking

For Ferrari, Sunday in Shanghai was a complete nightmare. First, the disappointing on-track performance, then the double disqualification—for two different reasons—of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton’s cars. A disaster across the board that does nothing to lift spirits after the disappointing debut in Melbourne and certainly makes Hamilton’s Sprint win on Saturday feel much less sweet. Yet, amid all the bitterness, there was a small bright spot: the collaboration between the two drivers.

At the start of the race, when the much-discussed position swap between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc took place—with the Monegasque, despite having a damaged front wing from contact with his teammate, clearly having more pace—there was notable harmony between the two Ferrari drivers. In a rather unusual case, it was actually Hamilton who first suggested to the team that they let his garage mate go ahead, realizing Leclerc was faster.

Lewis Hamilton’ offer and Fred Vasseur’s anger at FOM

“I think I’ll let Charles go because I’m struggling,” Hamilton said over the radio, a message welcomed by team principal Fred Vasseur. However, in the post-race press conference, Fred Vasseur harshly criticized FOM for the way it broadcasted the team radio exchanges on TV. Internationally, only the second part of the discussion between Lewis Hamilton and his race engineer Riccardo Adami was aired, where Lewis Hamilton was asking Charles Leclerc to get closer to avoid losing time during the swap.

“This whole story is a joke,” Fred Vasseur fumed. “The call came from Lewis first. He was the one who requested the swap, but to create confusion and make things more dramatic, they only aired the second part of the exchange. It was Lewis who asked to switch positions. Honestly, from the pit wall, we really appreciated Lewis admitting he didn’t have the pace and being open to the swap. It took us a lap before we instructed them to switch positions, but by then, his pace had recovered. So at first, he said to stay as they were, but then he realized he still didn’t have the speed, and we made the switch. The collaboration between the two guys in the team is huge. I have no complaints at all.”

The radio exchange

Here is the full sequence of radio messages leading up to Leclerc’s pass:

Hamilton: “I think I’ll let Charles go because I’m struggling.”
Adami: “Copy that. Swap cars at Turn 14. One-four.”

Adami: “Swap cars at Turn 14.”
Hamilton: “Yes, when he’s closer.”
Adami: “Yes.”
Hamilton: “If he can’t catch the guys ahead, he can let me back through.”

Bozzi: “You can overtake.”
Leclerc: “Are we doing this? Or not?”
Bozzi: “Yes, now we’re… This is what he’s been told.”

Adami: “We want to do the swap now. This lap. Swap now.”
Hamilton: “I’ll tell you when we’ll do the swap.”

Leclerc: “This is a shame, I have the pace.”
Bozzi: “Well done. Sorry, keep pushing.”