04/07/2025
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton has held clear the air meeting with his engineers, using the occasion to question team strategy.
Ever since the season got underway we have heard the seven-time world champion arguing with his engineer Riccardo Adami, even if the majority of the exchanges have been broadcast out of context for dramatic effect.
Last Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix witnessed arguably Ferrari's best performance of the season, yet still Hamilton was unhappy, insisting "I don't want to", when called in for his second stop of the race.
In the wake of the event, and amidst increasing media pressure on the team and its boss, Fred Vasseur, Hamilton met with his engineers to clear the air and also make clear his feelings over strategy.
"Yes. An hour ago I brought it up," he told reporters at Silverstone. "I mentioned it after the race and we've had time to reflect on it.
"I think the team's view was to make sure they secured third and fourth, which is totally fine," he continued. "But I said I'm not here to start fourth and finish fourth, I'm racing for every little bit that we can gain.
"In that scenario they had us exactly on the same strategy," he said, "I think we both went medium, hard, medium. I would have done medium, medium, hard so at least I was offset at the end, as I never want to do the same thing as my teammate, ever.
"In that last stint for example, we were not under pressure from the cars behind. They said 'you would have been overtaken by Charles at the end'. I said 'well, there could have been a Safety Car' and at that point there was no risk in taking a gamble.
"I said I don't want to get to a point where I'm ignoring you, so what we're doing is working on our communication," he insisted. "We're still getting to know each other and how we like to operate and that's understood."
Twelve months on from his victory here, Hamilton is hoping for something special for his home race, his first in a Ferrari.
"I'm hoping and praying," he said. There's always magic at Silverstone.
"I don't really have to hope for that in the sense that the crowd is incredible," he added. "It's a very, very special place and it always provides a special race, one way or another.
"I'm hoping that weather, all sorts of things can help us because we're naturally not as quick as McLaren. If it just stays dry then they should walk it.
"I don't really look at those stats and things so it's not something that affects me, or that I think about. Of course we're at Silverstone. It would be a great place to change that, and that's what we're working towards."