Explained: Ferrari radio call about Lewis Hamilton which baffled Charles Leclerc
An interesting Ferrari radio exchange grabbed attention during F1 Chinese Grand Prix sprint qualifying.
Charles Leclerc was left perplexed by an interesting radio message from his Ferrari team during sprint qualifying at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.
At the end of SQ2, Leclerc was told to concede track position to Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton during their out laps at the end of SQ2.
Leclerc obliged but appeared to be surprised by the instruction.
The radio exchange played out as follows…
Bryan Bozzi [Leclerc’s race engineer]: “Can we swap the cars please?”
Leclerc: "Swap the cars now?
Bozzi: “Yes please.”
Leclerc: “Yes, I’ll do it, but we’ve never done that. And I’m a bit in the s*** as well, so…”
The radio exchange was played out during Sky Sports F1’s live coverage of the sprint qualifying session.
“There was four tenths of a second between the two Ferrari drivers. It’s a bit late to swap them, when they’re out on the track,” Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft said.
To which Martin Brundle replied: “You have to assume that means Lewis has some kind of priority this weekend, which is what happened at Mercedes. They flip-flopped.”
Croft added: “That’s right, they took it in turns.”
Brundle then said: “It seems as if Leclerc might have missed that email.”
Were tyres behind the team order?
Former Aston Martin F1 strategist Bernie Collins suggested that tyres may have influenced Ferrari’s decision.
“I think Hamilton was in a slightly better position with his tyres, and wanted to push on during his slow lap,” Collins explained.
“Leclerc was trying to open a gap, trying to cool everything down, and that’s why they switched.”
Croft asked: “So Lewis would have been compromised if he stayed behind?”
Collins concluded: “Exactly.”
Brundle then added: “It still seemed to annoy Charles quite a lot. He said he wasn’t in a good place, he meant traffic-wise.”
Seven-time world champion Hamilton went on to claim pole position for the sprint race, with Leclerc fourth on the grid in Shanghai.
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