An ex-F1 star has urged Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur to have a harsh word with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for their radio outbursts at last week’s Australian Grand Prix.
With the Scuderia duo managing only disappointing P8 and P10 finishes in Melbourne, with Hamilton occupying the final points-scoring position on his debut in scarlet red, both drivers expressed their discontent towards their engineers on multiple occasions.
Hamilton repeatedly told his new race engineer, Riccardo Adami, to ‘leave me to it’, and even let out an expletive after he had dropped down the race order following a strategical misjudgment by Ferrari.
Meanwhile, Leclerc issued a snappy response after a befuddling interaction with his eyes and ears in the paddock, Xavier Marcos Padros. ‘Is there a leakage? I have the seat full of water,’ Leclerc asked Padros.
The engineer replied: ‘Must be the water’, to which Leclerc sarcastically said: ‘Let’s add that to the words of wisdom.’
And former F1 star Ralf Schumacher lamented the duo’s radio antics, arguing that Vasseur should call Hamilton and Leclerc into his office to ‘give them both a wrap on the knuckles’.
Hamilton and Leclerc were blasted for their radio outbursts at last week’s Australian Grand Prix
Ralf Schumacher was unimpressed by the duo’s ‘stroppy’ behaviour towards their engineers
The ex-F1 star argued Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur should punish his driver duo
The brother of F1 icon Michael Schumacher told Backstage in the Pit Lane: ‘It was like that with both of them. Not only Hamilton, but also Charles Leclerc was relatively stroppy on the radio. If I were the team principal right now, I’d call them both into my office and give them both a rap on the knuckles because that’s not on.
‘At the end of the day, the whole team is sitting out there doing nothing but trying to help the two out there. And if they’re also being stroppy, then I have to say that’s not on. You can say, “please, right now is [a] bad [time to talk to me on the radio]”.’
Both Hamilton and Leclerc stood their ground in the face of criticism, as others in the world of F1 have also expressed contempt towards the drivers for their behaviour on the radio.
Hamilton noted the explosive behaviour of his long-time rival Max Verstappen, and argued that his comparatively calm requests for silence are a far cry from the Dutchman’s radio outbursts.
‘Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers – far worse,’ the seven-time world champion said.
‘The conversation that Max [Verstappen] has with an engineer over the years, the abuse that the poor guy’s taken and you never write about it, but you wrote about the smallest little discussion I had with mine.’
Hamilton went on to explain that he and his engineer are still ‘getting to know each other’, and attributed any possible conflict to mere growing pains.
The 40-year-old added: ‘Ultimately, we’re literally just getting to know each other, so afterwards I’m like, “Hey bro, I don’t need that bit of information but if you want to give me this, this is the place I’d like to do it.
Hamilton argued that his words were not nearly as bad as Max Verstappen’s radio outbursts
Meanwhile, Leclerc revealed that his exchange was based on an inside joke with his engineer
Hamilton took pole for Saturday’s Chinese Grand Prix sprint race, while Leclerc qualified P4
‘This is how I’m feeling in the car and, at these points, this is when I do and don’t need the information.” That’s what it’s about. There are no issues, it’s done with a smiley face and we move forwards.’
Meanwhile, Leclerc insisted that his comments were made in jest, explaining that they were based around an ‘inside joke’ between him and his engineer.
‘It was an inside joke,’ he said. ‘But obviously nobody could understand it from the outside. It is something with my engineer.
‘We understood where it was coming from. It was coming from the drinks. So obviously I had zero drink and I was wet, but that’s fine.’
Ahead of Saturday’s sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton notched up his first pole position for the Prancing Horse in Friday’s sprint qualifying.
Leclerc will start just outside of the podium places for the sprint, qualifying P4 – two-tenths down on his team-mate.
Ferrari will be looking to bounce back in Shanghai after a disappointing opening event last week, which leaves them seventh in the constructors’ standings with one race run.
