With a total of 16 Constructors’ titles and 15 Drivers’ Championships, Ferrari have been the most successful team in F1 history. However, in recent years, the team seems to have lost their edge and frustrations are growing in their camp as a result.
Among the many factors that have contributed to the team’s slump, the most glaring mistakes have been on the pit wall in terms of their strategy. Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, who got used to some brilliant strategy calls from his pit wall at Mercedes, no longer seems to have that kind of support.
In fact, at the Miami GP last weekend, he even criticized the Ferrari pit wall for not playing the team game. Since he was on the faster medium tires towards the end of the race and his teammate, Charles Leclerc, was on the harder compound, Hamilton wanted Ferrari to swap them around.
Nothing unusual about Hamilton’s request, as teams usually deploy this strategy to increase their odds of beating their rivals. However, what Hamilton found perplexing was that Ferrari took a while to make this call.
By then, his tires had already worn out, and when he was freed from the dirty air behind his teammate, he just did not have the pace to attack Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli. So, in the end, he gave the position back to Leclerc.
And after doing so, he had a heated exchange with his race engineer, Riccardo Adami, on the team radio. He once told the team to “Have a tea break while you’re at it!”
Hamilton’s radio: “Have a tea break while you’re at it” #F1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/8e1uGmOClj
— Radio Messages (@radiomessages) May 5, 2025
Now, former Ferrari man Peter Windsor has looked back at the exchange that Hamilton had with his Ferrari team, along with 1992 F1 champion Nigel Mansell. Windsor revealed that they had a good laugh when they heard Hamilton’s sarcastic remarks on the team radio.
However, after having the laugh, Windsor slammed Ferrari for their unprofessional management. “I have to say, the more I think about all that, the more the whole thing kind of sickens me. It’s not really how it should be. I mean it’s very poor. Nothing to do with Lewis or Charles,” Windsor began.
“I’m talking about the management, it shouldn’t be doing [this]. They shouldn’t be that disorganized and it’s unprofessional, I think that sort of stuff,” added the 73-year-old.
The entire ordeal left Hamilton red-faced when he was ordered to hand back the position to Leclerc. It was the team’s late call that meant he had no tires left, and when Adami informed him about the gap behind to Carlos Sainz, Hamilton gave another sarcastic response.
“Do you want me to let him past as well,” he replied. So, with the heated exchanges that Hamilton has had with Adami ever since he moved to Maranello, the 40-year-old is finally coming to terms with reality, with his honeymoon period long over.
