Lewis Hamilton's passionate radio message for Ferrari goes viral after Imola fightback

Lewis Hamilton showed once again why he is a seven-time Formula 1 world champion with a brilliant drive at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where he finished fourth and almost took his first podium for Ferrari in front of home fans.

The British driver, who joined Ferrari this season, started from 12th after a disappointing qualifying at Imola, where both he and teammate Charles Leclerc were knocked out in Q2.

Despite the poor start, Hamilton had a great race and made up eight positions to finish P4. Many believe that if the race was just a few laps longer, he could have overtaken Oscar Piastri and scored his first podium in a proper race for Ferrari. He has won two sprint races for Scuderia so far but is yet to win a full race.

Hamilton’s reaction after finishing P4 at Imola

As Hamilton crossed the finish line on Sunday, he sent a heartfelt message over the team radio. “What a great race, guys. Fantastic stops, strategy, the car felt great today. I’m so grateful, so proud. Grazie tutti, and for the Tifosi, that was for them. Let’s keep pushing and get that qualifying better and we can race like that, and then we’ll be winning,” he said.

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Ferrari’s race engineer Riccardo Adami responded by saying, “Those overtakes were explosive,” to which Hamilton replied, “Yeah I pushed it mate, I pushed it.”

Immense pride and positivity from @LewisHamilton 💪#F1 #ImolaGP @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/ZhILXIGcsM

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 18, 2025

Leclerc not happy with Ferrari’s communication

Meanwhile, Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc had another difficult race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, finishing in sixth place. The Ferrari driver was clearly upset with how the race went and blamed poor team communication for ruining his strategy.

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During the race, Leclerc asked if he could pit and switch to soft tyres. But the team told him, “Hamilton does not want to box,” which left Leclerc confused. He replied, “I don’t care, I don’t care. We are speaking about ourselves.”

The team then gave him the go-ahead to pit. But just as Leclerc was about to enter the pit lane, Hamilton suddenly turned in. This forced Leclerc to stay out. Leclerc was angry over the radio and said, “Wait, why?! I haven’t pitted because Lewis has pitted. I’m not going to wait behind him and lose more positions.”

Despite Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth and helping Ferrari avoid a disaster in front of the home crowd, both drivers are still outside the top four in the championship standings. Hamilton is fifth and Leclerc is sixth, with the Monegasque driver now 85 points behind leader Oscar Piastri, who finished third in the Emilia Romagna GP.