Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Ferrari F1 Chaos: Hamilton Apologises After Botched Team Order in Azerbaijan GP
Ferrari’s Formula 1 weekend ended with drama and a botched team order as Lewis Hamilton failed to hand back eighth place to teammate Charles Leclerc on the final lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The mishap, while ultimately inconsequential in terms of points, sparked questions about communication and strategy execution within the Scuderia.
Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc had initially swapped positions on lap 44, with the hope that Hamilton could leverage his fresher medium tyres to overtake rivals Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, and Liam Lawson. Charles Leclerc, on older hard tyres, was fading from that battle and ceded the spot strategically.
The drama unfolded on the very last lap, as Lewis Hamilton, struggling with rear-end grip, was instructed by race engineer Riccardo Adami to let Charles Leclerc back through: “Let Charles by, he’s one and a half seconds behind you. This is the last lap… Charles 1.5 behind, let him by.”
Lewis Hamilton responded by significantly reducing speed from over 340 km/h to roughly 184 km/h approaching the finish line, but it wasn’t enough. Charles Leclerc crossed the line 0.518 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton, leaving the positions unchanged. Confusion about the separate start and finish lines may have contributed, though neither driver directly blamed this.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
After the race, Lewis Hamilton took responsibility for the error. “At the end, I got the message really late on, and I was like zoned in on the car in front of me… I did lift on the straight, and did actually brake, but he missed it by like four tenths. That was just a misjudgment by myself. I’ll apologise to Charles. At the end of the day, that’s [only] eighth and ninth.”
Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, downplayed the incident entirely. “I really don’t care. For an eighth place, I don’t think that this should be the talking point… P8 and P9, or P9 and P8, is not something that really interests me,” he said. He did note that future scenarios involving higher positions may require stricter adherence to team orders, but emphasised that performance over the weekend was the bigger issue for Ferrari.
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Despite the minor controversy, Lewis Hamilton reiterated that lessons had been learned: “Yeah, but [still] that won’t happen again.” The drivers’ mutual respect remained evident, with Leclerc acknowledging Lewis Hamilton’s professionalism and the competitive nature of the final laps.
The incident highlights ongoing challenges in F1 regarding split-second decision-making and the execution of team orders. For Ferrari, it serves as a reminder that even minor errors in communication can spark headlines, regardless of point implications.
With the Formula 1 season intensifying, fans and analysts will be watching closely to see how the Scuderia manages future race strategies, especially in tightly contested midfield battles where seconds can make all the difference.
