Lewis Hamilton team order complication emerges with Ferrari radio under spotlight

Lewis Hamilton found himself at the centre of a Ferrari team order in Baku which was not executed as requested.

Hamilton – as per Ferrari’s request – was supposed to concede eighth place to teammate Charles Leclerc, but despite slowing, Leclerc did not make the pass before the finish line. Sky F1 analyst Bernie Collins picked up on the lurking presence of Isack Hadjar – referenced by Ferrari in the radio communication to Hamilton – as a factor working in Hamilton’s defence.

Lewis Hamilton team order breakdown: Isack Hadjar a factor?

Ferrari went into Grand Prix Sunday in Baku on the back foot. Hamilton was a surprise Q2 casualty, while Leclerc crashed out in Q3 without a time on the board.

Come the chequered flag, a P8/P9 result was the extent of Ferrari’s recovery. Yet, the drivers did not finish in the order which Ferrari had planned.

Leclerc followed a request to let Hamilton through so he could attack Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson with his fresher tyres. Leclerc was also battling an engine recovery issue.

Unsuccessful in making an overtake, Hamilton was asked before the finish line to yield and return eighth to Leclerc.

Hamilton did slow, vacate the racing line, and observe his mirrors, but still crossed the line just under four-tenths ahead of Leclerc. Hamilton apologised post-race to his team-mate.

Appearing as an analyst for Sky F1, Bernie Collins – the former McLaren lead performance engineer and Aston Martin strategy chief – picked up on a specific part of the team radio communication between Hamilton and race engineer Riccardo Adami.

With Leclerc having been told that Hamilton would “let you by on the main straight”, Hamilton was informed that “behind him [Leclerc] is Hadjar, two seconds.”

Bearing in mind that Baku boasts the longest main straight in Formula 1, Collins said she could understand why Hamilton got the swap slightly wrong when Hadjar was within that proximity, and needed covering off.

“Just to pick up a little bit there on the switch of positions at the end,” she began. “Obviously, Lewis is told to lose the position to Charles Leclerc. But, then he’s also told that Isack Hadjar is only two seconds behind that.

“So he’s on this main straight, where they’re meant to be doing 300 kph, and he’s trying to let one guy by, but not the guy only two seconds behind him.

“So, it’s a very, very difficult thing to judge, which I think is possibly why he’s got that ever so slightly wrong there, because he wanted to give it to Charles Leclerc, but not lose his other position to Hadjar.”

Considering both Ferrari drivers finished in the lower points-scoring positions, Leclerc was keen to play down the significance of the team order saga, even if he suggested that the “rules were not respected” by Hamilton in that moment.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur brushed off the incident as merely a “misjudgement” on Hamilton’s part, not a calculated move.

“I think the situation was clear for us that Lewis had a tyre advantage and we asked Charles to let him go to try to overtake Lawson and Tsunoda or Norris,” said Vasseur.

“On the top, Charles had the issue with the recovery and we are not at the top on the engine and that, I think, was the best option for us to do this move.

“We asked to swap back and it looks like Lewis had a misjudgement on the position of the start and finish line.”

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The race weekend in Baku had promised much more for Ferrari, and Hamilton on a personal level, after he ended Friday practice on top in a Ferrari one-two.

Williams development driver and Sky F1 pundit Jamie Chadwick, believes Hamilton can take comfort from the fact that he was, once again, right on Leclerc’s pace, or arguably the stronger Ferrari driver at a Baku track where Leclerc often goes well.

But, that very fact, Chadwick admits, will also provide a sense of frustration for Hamilton.

“If there is a silver lining in that, I think it’s that Lewis had very good performance relative to Charles, which he’s had recent weekends as well,” said Chadwick.

“And I think that is very important for this Constructors’ battle, because you need two drivers to be up there fighting. And you can see now in the Constructors’, a weekend where Mercedes have both drivers in the top four, suddenly, they jump into second. A weekend where they only have one driver fighting, then they lose a lot of points, so they need both drivers up there.

“I think Lewis can take a lot of positives from that, but he’ll be very frustrated, on this weekend where he’s felt like he may be a bit stronger than Charles, they’re fighting for P8, P9, not anything better.”

With seven rounds to go, Ferrari sits four points behind Mercedes, and 14 ahead of Red Bull, as the battle for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship intensifies.

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