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F1 fans online reacted to Lewis Hamilton's explanation on why he did not swap positions with Charles Leclerc during the final lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Briton explained that he received the call to swap from the Ferrari pit wall too late.
Ferrari had a weekend to forget in Baku as both Leclerc and Hamilton failed to make a mark. But the Grand Prix ended in a controversial manner for the Scuderia with a team order gone wrong.
Hamilton, on an alternate strategy, was let through by Leclerc in the middle stages of race. When Hamilton was unable to make any progress, the team asked him to give the position back on the final lap.
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But Hamilton failed to do so, and explained after the race that he received the message from the team too late. The 7x world champion also said that this would not happen again from his end.
"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," said Hamilton. [via The Race]
"That was just a misjudgment by myself. I'll apologize to Charles," he added.
Fans online shared their reactions to this claim by Hamilton, with most left divided on the proceedings at the Italian team in Baku.
"Sure Sir, fake swap for a P8. What a sad end of career," claimed one user.
"Pit wall trying to force a 1644 divorce ohhh this evil team," said another fan.
"We’re not at a stage where teammates have to fight for wins. It’s whatever but Lewis Hamilton is a class act," said another user.
Here are some more reactions:
"Let them just race I hate this team order s***," claimed another fan.
"the last bit matters. I like this reaction from him," said another user.
"Goat is always gracious and classy," claimed another fan.
Charles Leclerc crashed in Q3 during qualifying and started P10, while Lewis Hamilton didn't even make it out of Q2 and started from 12th. On Sunday, they were unable to make any progress, and ended up securing only P8 and P9.
Charles Leclerc's straighforward response to Lewis Hamilton team order moment at the Azerbaijan GP
Speaking to the media after the Azerbaijan GP, Charles Leclerc claimed that he did not care about Lewis Hamilton not giving him the place back as it was only for P8. The Monegasque also added that the weekend was a disappointing one for Ferrari as a whole.
"I really don't care. For an eighth place, I don't think that this should be the talking point," said Leclerc.
"Unfortunately, we have been very slow all weekend, and that's what we should focus on. P8 and P9, or P9 and P8, is not something that really interests me. It's fine," he added.
Ferrari has also lost ground in the constructors' championship after their performance at Baku, slipping down from P2 to P3 in the standings. Mercedes has taken second place, thanks to a P2 finish for George Russell, supported by a P4 finish for Kimi Antonelli.
