Untelevised Lewis Hamilton gesture emerges after Colapinto incident

Untelevised footage from the Miami Grand Prix has uncovered the moment Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton waved his middle finger at Franco Colapinto’s Alpine after their first-lap collision. 

Colapinto recorded the best finish of his F1 career in Miami, with the Alpine driver promoted to seventh after a post-race penalty for Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton spotted waving middle finger at Franco Colapinto

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It came after the Argentine made contact with Hamilton at Turn 11 on the opening lap, leaving the Ferrari with damage.

Hamilton, who was hamstrung for the remainder of the race due to the resulting loss of downforce, eventually came home one place ahead of Colapinto in sixth.

Untelevised footage of the aftermath of the incident has revealed how Hamilton made his displeasure clear to Colapinto as he passed the Alpine on track.

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The clip, which cannot be reproduced here due to broadcast rights restrictions, shows Hamilton taking his right hand off his steering wheel and raising his middle finger as he overtakes Colapinto on the back straight later in the race.

Hamilton’s collision with Colapinto came moments after he was forced to take avoiding action at the start following Max Verstappen’s spin.

Speaking after the race, Hamilton estimated that he lost around 0.5 seconds per lap as a result of his collision with Colapinto.

He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I was really unlucky to get caught up with Max’s spin and obviously lost positions from there.

“And then I got damage from Franco and that lost me a ton of downforce. I was in no-man’s land after that.

“Not much to say. I lost about half a second of downforce on the car and I was just driving around for nothing really, trying to get as many points as I could with the damage.”

Hamilton claimed that he would have been a contender for victory in Florida without the damage.

He added: “I think we progressed going into qualifying and the laps to the grid felt really strong.

“I was already feeling like: ‘We’re going to be strong in this race.’

“And then, obviously, with the damage [I couldn’t capitalise on it].

“And it’s the worst when it happens on Lap 1 as well because there’s just nothing you can do. You’re just a passenger.

“Honestly, without the damage, I think we would have been right up in the fight. The car was feeling good on the laps to the grid.

“So it’s a shame because it doesn’t really truly reflect the hard work that the team has done.

“A weekend to forget. We move forwards and we try and see if we can extract more at the next race.”

Meanwhile, Colapinto claimed the Miami Grand Prix was his most complete weekend since he arrived in Formula 1 with the Williams team in 2024.

He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I think since I got to F1, it’s been my most perfect weekend.

“I am very happy with the weekend. It’s been executed really well. I think we maximised every session and we scored strong points.

“So it’s been a weekend for all of us to be very proud and we’ll try to do better in Canada.”

Asked if his improved performance was a result of Alpine upgrades or a function of him being more comfortable with the car, he added: “I feel very similar, to be honest. On my side, not much changed.

“But I’m just very grateful for the team for all the new bits, the upgrades, the new wings, the new chassis that came.

“It’s all been very helpful and I think that really helped me find my feet a bit better and find my pace.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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