Lewis Hamilton under fire for ‘falling asleep’ as Leclerc rues ‘stupid’ incident

Ferrari needs a “wake-up call” after Baku if the team wants to finish runner-up in the championship, while Lewis Hamilton was also in the firing line of Guenther Steiner.

Stating that results like in Baku will cost Ferrari P2, Steiner called out Hamilton for “falling asleep” by failing to yield eighth to teammate Charles Leclerc as requested. It was an incident which Leclerc deemed “stupid” and “not fair”, while he also hinted at rules not being respected by Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari called out by Steiner

A disappointing qualifying left Hamilton 12th on the grid and Leclerc 10th. The extent of the recovery was P8 for Hamilton and P9 for Leclerc at the chequered flag, though that was not the finishing order intended by Ferrari.

Hamilton had been requested to let Leclerc back through before the chequered flag. Ferrari had earlier swapped their drivers around to allow Hamilton to attack Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson with fresher tyres.

Unsuccessful, Hamilton was told by race engineer Riccardo Adami to yield P8 to Leclerc. He did slow, vacate the racing line and observe his mirrors on the way to the finish, but crossed the line four-tenths ahead of Leclerc.

“Argh. Ah, I don’t really care. It’s for an eighth place, so… it’s OK. He can enjoy that P8,” Leclerc said over team radio after crossing the line ninth.

“It’s just stupid because it’s not fair. But again, I don’t mind, honestly. P8 or P9, it’s been a difficult weekend, so…”

Speaking after qualifying, Leclerc added: “There are rules that we know we’ve got to work with, and today, maybe those rules were not respected.

“But again, I mean, P8/P9, P9/P8, that’s small.

“Going forward, obviously, if we are fighting for sexier positions, which I hope it will be the case, then I hope that we will work in a different way.

“But on a day like that, honestly, I don’t really mind.”

Appearing on the Red Flags podcast, Steiner, the ex-Red Bull technical operations director and former Haas team principal, handed out the customary, unwanted ‘wanker’ award to Ferrari after their challenging Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Explaining why, Steiner said: “Because eighth and ninth, beaten by Racing Bulls, beaten by Williams, you know, the mess, not to let Charles by at the end, Lewis falling asleep to let him by because he was focused on something else.

“They need to wake up, because if they want to become second in a championship like this, it’s not going to happen. So at the moment, they’re not second anymore.

“Last year, it looked very promising. The second-half the year was very good from Ferrari.

“And again, we had big expectations, me included, and I mean, until a race ago, they were second. We don’t have to forget that, but they need a wake-up call now to say, hey, with results like Baku… and they know that, they don’t need dusty clowns to tell them.

“They need to get a wake-up call if they want to finish second, which will be very difficult, because Mercedes won races, Red Bull won races. Ferrari hasn’t won a race yet.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

The battle for second has closed up over recent rounds. Mercedes has moved into second, four points ahead of Ferrari, after Baku. Red Bull meanwhile is in the hunt again after back-to-back wins for Max Verstappen, and Tsunoda’s P6 in Baku.

When faced with an opinion that Ferrari are destined to finish fourth, Steiner replied: “I wouldn’t say definitely.

“I mean, any of the three. They are so close together. It’s too early to call it.

“I mean, if Mercedes has got a good race, and they win a race and Kimi [Antonelli] makes some points, they can be in front.

“But, I think the most struggle, Red Bull will have, because I don’t think Max will win a lot more races this year.”

The upcoming Singapore GP will be a key test for Verstappen and Red Bull. The Marina Bay Circuit represents a rare F1 venue where Verstappen has never won before.

Read next: Villeneuve praises Lewis Hamilton after Leclerc slams ‘not fair’ team order snub