F1 responds to Ferrari after Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc swap coverage kicks up a storm

F1 journalist Jonathan Noble claimed that Formula One Management [FOM] and Ferrari held talks over Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc coverage during the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. The two Ferrari drivers ran in tandem for the majority of the race on Sunday with Hamilton leading his new teammate, who was in P5, in P4 at Shanghai International Circuit.

The duo swapped places after the round of pitstops as the Monegasque was the faster of the two drivers despite Leclerc having damaged his front wing endplate. On the broadcast, the seven-time F1 world champion was heard on the team radio being unwilling to swap positions when instructed and responded by saying that he would swap at the optimal moment.

After tackling many questions surrounding the team orders call and Hamilton resisting the instructions, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur informed that Hamilton had initially suggested swapping places but the broadcast omitted the message. He responded:

"I think this is a joke from FOM because the first call came from Lewis. Lewis asked us to swap, but to create the mess around the situation they broadcast only the second part of the question. We will discuss with them."

As per The Race pundit Noble, F1 met with the Italian team regarding the situation and addressed Vasseur's concerns. An F1 representative said:

“There was absolutely no intention of presenting a misleading narrative regarding the Ferrari team radio. Due to other situations developing during the race, the message from Lewis was not played but this was not intentional.”

The situation created unnecessary confusion as Lewis Hamilton was willing to swap positions with Charles Leclerc; the omitted radio message gave further context to the situation.

Ferrari team boss clarifies Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc swap in China

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur believed that the team orders call was not a "mess" as the lines of communication from Lewis Hamilton to the pit wall were clear at the recently concluded Chinese GP.

As per ESPN, the Frenchman provided a detailed clarification and said:

"You can't imagine the number of questions I had about this when I came from the garage to here. It's all about the same thing: 'Is it a mess?' I said no, it's Lewis who asked to swap. I'm not even sure you would even have these situations ten times at other teams in a season, and honestly, from the pit wall we really appreciated the call from Lewis saying, 'Guys, I'm losing the pace, I'm keen to swap.'"

Ultimately, the swap had no impact on the overall results of the race as both Ferrari drivers were disqualified from the race after Charles Leclerc was found guilty of having an underweight car by 1kg, on the other hand, Hamilton had excessive plank wear on his SF-25.