In aftermath of Lewis Hamilton's Baku controversy, ex-F1 champ calls out Ferrari's "unnecessary" team orders

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were instructed by Ferrari to swap positions at the end of the Azerbaijan GP. While the seven-time F2 champion did slow down, it was too late, and he crossed the chequered flag ahead of his teammate. Jacques Villeneuve came out and shared his take on the controversy, calling out Ferrari's team orders.

Charles Leclerc ran ahead of Lewis after the final round of pit stops at the Azerbaijan GP. However, the Briton ran the hard tires at the start and was on the faster and fresher rubber. As a result, Ferrari asked Leclerc to let Hamilton by so that the seven-time champ could chase down Lando Norris and the pack ahead.

However, Lewis Hamilton was not able to make the move on Norris, and on the run up to the line, Ferrari instructed the Briton to swap positions with his teammate and the position back to Charles Leclerc. While Hamilton did slow down, he didn't slow down early enough to let Leclerc by and finished in P8, ahead of the Monegasque.

F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan - Source: Getty

Former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve came out and shared his take on the controversial incident at the Azerbaijan GP, as he pointed out how Hamilton was on the fresher tires, would've passed Leclerc anyway, and called out Ferrari's team orders to swap the positions back at the end.

“Lewis Hamilton played it well. He played it really well. Ferrari asked Leclerc to let Lewis by, but they didn’t need to. Lewis then, on the new tyre, was so much quicker anyway he would have overtaken him. So, the team orders were unnecessary. So, I guess that’s why Lewis didn’t really want to let him by again!” said Jacques Villeneuve (via RN365 who quoted a gambling website)

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Lewis Hamilton takes accountability for the failed swap at Baku; details it as a “misjudgement”

Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton got the message late to swap positions with Charles Leclerc. The Briton detailed how he was focused on passing Lando Norris, and a simple misjudgment on his part in slowing down was what caused the failed swap.

“Firstly...obviously I was quicker [in that moment of the race] but Charles was gracious to let me by. At the end I got the message really late on, and I was like zoned in on the car in front of me, even though there was like 0.0001% chance of passing, I was still hopeful maybe.”

"And basically I did lift on the straight, and did actually brake, but he missed it by like four tenths. That was just a misjudgment by myself. I'll apologise to Charles. At the end of the day that's [only] eighth and ninth,” added Hamilton

Charles Leclerc came out and suggested he didn't care for the swap as it was only for P8 and P9.