Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur complained about the official TV transmission after the Formula 1 Grand Prix in China because these radio sayings had distorted from his point of view, so that Lewis Hamilton appeared in a bad light.
No Formula 1 pilot is happy to be overtaken, no driver freely makes room for a colleague, which should be obvious. And so it was actually not surprising that Lewis Hamilton on the radio was not very enthusiastic when he was supposed to advance Charles Leclerc at the Grand Prix of China to secure fifth and sixth place as best as possible – those placements that SCUDERIA lost due to a double display qualification afterwards.
But as it turned out, Hamilton was not as short as the radio circuit in TV transmission was. The world athlete, led by the Formula One Management (FOM), only showed how Hamilton’s racing engineer apparently informed the British from nothing that an exchange would be pushing shortly. What was missing: that the record champion itself had previously offered to do the said exchange so as not to lose time.
So Hamilton’s statement – “If he is closer, yes” – almost like a rejection of the team orders. For Fred Vasseur an absurd.
“It is a joke from the FOM because the first radio message came from Lewis. He asked us to exchange. But to make a show and create a chaos, only send the second part of the question. I will talk to you about it,” quotes “Speedweek.com” chief.
Formula 1: Hamilton insisted on space-and
Vasseur continued: “Lewis asked to exchange. I am not sure whether you would get into such a situation in other teams ten times during the season.”
Hamilton’s radio message was very much appreciated in which he said: “People, I’m losing speed, I want to exchange.” When the command stand understood the call, however, a round had passed and Hamilton’s pace was back, Vasseur stated and explained that Hamilton still existed on the exchange.
His conclusion to the cooperation between Hamilton and Leclerc: “To be honest, the collaboration between the two boys is great and I can’t complain for a second.”
After the GP, the Formula One Management also commented on the incident. “There was absolutely no intention to present a misleading representation regarding the Ferrari team. Due to other situations that developed during the race, the news of Lewis was not played, but that was not intended,” said the FOM, which the topic was discussed with Vasseur.