"It’s stupid": Charles Leclerc's blunt reaction to being told to swap places with Lewis Hamilton during the F1 Miami GP

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc gave a blunt reaction to being told to swap places with teammate Lewis Hamilton during the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. It was a weekend to forget for the Monegasque driver as he could only come up with six points from the two opportunities to score in Miami.

The eight-time F1 race winner failed to start the Sprint race on Saturday as he crashed out on the reconnaissance lap to the grid in heavy rain. His troubles in the SF-25 continued in the main race as well, as he failed to make any relative progress from P8 and ultimately finished P7.

During the race, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both expressed their frustration on the team radio over the Italian team's management during the final phase of the race. The 27-year-old was unhappy with the delay in the team orders call to swap after Hamilton failed to catch Kimi Antonelli.

Leclerc informed on his team radio that his tires were overheating behind his seven-time F1 world champion teammate. After one failed attempt to swap positions, the Monegasque said to his race engineer, Bryan Bozzi:

"It’s stupid. I didn't know Carlos was that close."

The Ferrari duo were closely followed by Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz, who finished a whisker away from Hamilton in P9 at the end of the race.

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Charles Leclerc comments on the team orders drama in Miami

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated that he understood his teammate Lewis Hamilton's predicament as he had the softer tires and wanted a shot at attacking Kimi Antonelli ahead of the former.

Speaking with PlanetF1, the 27-year-old reflected on the complicated situation and said:

“I mean, not really, because I knew Lewis was on a medium, so if anything, he would struggle a bit more to go to the end than me, so we had to take care of tyres. But I understand as well that he wanted to try and do something different. So I appreciate that. I mean, I would have done the same thing if I was him, and trying to be a bit more aggressive with the medium tyres."

“There’s no bad feelings with Lewis. Not at all. I understand that he wants to try and optimise as much as I want to try and optimise the car potential. The car potential is just this, which is frustrating,” Leclerc added.

Ferrari were the fifth fastest team in Miami behind Williams in terms of pure pace in both qualifying and the main race. They could only add 10 points to their tally and sit in P4 in the Constructors' Championship.

Charles Leclerc is now 40 points behind Mercedes driver George Russell in P5 in the drivers' championship after five races and two Sprints in the 2025 season.