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FORMULA ONE was forced to respond to Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur after a “joke” decision over a crucial Lewis Hamilton radio message during the Chinese Grand Prix.
Vasseur, team principal of Ferrari, complained to F1’s commercial arm, Formula One Management (FOM), over the use of radio messages regarding team orders in Sunday’s race.
Hamilton, 40, had been running in P4 early on ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc, 27, was showing strong pace despite harbouring damage to his front wing and wanted to pass his team-mate without compromising race pace.
Hamilton had suggested he was going to let Leclerc after admitting he was struggling at the Shanghai circuit.
By the time he was told of the plan to let Leclerc by at Turn 14, Hamilton had already started closing in George Russell, and wanted Leclerc to close up before letting him by.
The international broadcast feed showed Hamilton snapping back he would let him by when he was closer before saying: “I’ll tell you when we can swap.”
The Monegasque eventually moved past the seven-time world champion on lap 21 at Turn 1.
The type of exchange is nothing new in the hyper-competitive winner-takes-all ideology of F1 and shifting circumstances.
However, Vasseur, 56, had been left angered by FOM not broadcasting Hamilton’s decision to engineer the swap on the international feed.
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He said: “This is a joke from FOM, because the first call came from Lewis – that Lewis asked us to swap.
“But to make the show, to create the mess around the situation, they broadcast only the second part of the question.”
According to The Race, FOM held a meeting with Vasseur to directly address the complaint and clarify the situation.
An F1 spokesperson said: “There was absolutely no intention of presenting a misleading narrative regarding the Ferrari team radio.
“Due to other situations developing during the race the message from Lewis was not played but this was not intentional.”
The matter is said to now be considered resolved.
Hamilton and Leclerc had finished the race running in P6 and P5 respectively.
But disaster struck following the race as both drivers were DISQUALIFIED following breaches of strict F1 rules.
After the triple disqualification of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly, here is the new top 10 standings:
1) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
2) Lando Norris, McLaren
3) George Russell, Mercedes
4) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
5) Esteban Ocon, Haas
6) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
7) Alex Albon, Williams
8) Oliver Bearman, Haas
9) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
10) Carlos Sainz, Williams
Hamilton had been found to have had too much wear on his skid block, failing post-race checks by a less than a millimetre.
Rules state it must be 9mm – but Hamilton’s vehicle was measured at 8.6mm, with Ferrari putting this down to a “genuine error” on their part.
Meanwhile, Leclerc – along with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly – were found to have breached the minimum required weight rules of their cars.
It meant Hamilton and Leclerc’s points for their sixth and fifth place finishes – respectively eight and 10 points – were wiped from their championship tally.
On the whole the Chinese Grand Prix was dominated by McLaren, with Oscar Piastri winning the third race of his career ahead of Lando Norris to give the team its 50th 1-2 finish in the sport.
Hamilton had been praised for a “masterclass in tyre management” by engineer Riccardo Adami after he had won the Sprint race in a glorious start to the weekend.
Earning pole for the Sprint had also seen Hamilton become the first driver over 40 and first British Ferrari driver since Nigel Mansell in 1994 and 1990 respectively to get pole.
The next race this season will be the Japanese Grand Prix on April 6.
But one change is already being lined up on the grid with reports suggesting Liam Lawson will be axed from his Red Bull seat for Yuki Tsunoda.
