The skies opened over the short F1 Miami GP Sprint Saturday, and Lewis Hamilton did what he does best- trusted his gut, took a gamble and turned a sliding Ferrari into a surprise podium. After stepping out to the roar of the fans after his P3 finish, Hamilton reflected on his excellent performance, amidst tricky conditions and a disappointing-at-times season
The crowd’s been so great today. Oh man, I’m so happy with that,” he said, enthused by the audience’s reception, “You know, it’s been a tough year so far, but…I never thought it was going to rain in Miami. It was the first time they’ve all been on track in the wet here. And what a race it provided us.”
Hamilton “really happy” with excellent finish
Hamilton started P12 and dropped as low as P14 in the opening phase, but a bold switch to slicks while others hesitated flipped the race on its head. During the Post-Sprint conference he said, “(In Qualifying) we were quite a chunk off these guys (McLaren) and then getting onto the Inters I was just sliding around.”
“I had the Williams behind me, I think, and there was another one behind him who I was most likely going to be overtaken by. So I was like, I got to roll the dice. I was full lock through Turn 12 and full lock through Turn 16, and it still wasn’t turning. So I was like, let’s just go for it.”
In hindsight, he added, “If I’m honest, I should have done it maybe a lap or two before that. I think it would have been probably the same result because these guys were a bit too far ahead.
Hamilton walked F1 Miami GP Sprint a happy man. “Really happy to get back up there and get the points.“
Hamilton sees room for improvement in Ferrari performance
However, the Miami GP was not just about points. On a weekend where Ferrari looked off the pace on Friday, Hamilton’s Sprint charge was a spark in whats otherwise been a quiet few weeks since his Shanghai win. “every moment counts,” he said. “it’s definitely been not so great, since China, but looking at it, you can definitely see perhaps why we’ve been in the position that we’re in. I think coming into this weekend, we’ve made some changes, but we have more to do in order to be fighting more consistently at the front. So we just need to knuckle down. I do believe that we can get some better results.”
Despite the success, Hamilton stayed grounded, acknowledging that he had not yet been able to “extract the full potential of his SF-25.”
“I don’t think we’re extracting everything from the car, and that’s what we need to work on – to extract the full potential of the car. I think we have good downforce.”
He added, “I don’t think we’re on the same pace as the McLarens, but I think we should be fighting a little bit closer, perhaps to the Bulls and McLaren (sic, Mercedes).”
Hamilton looked ahead to the F1 Miami GP qualifying and Sunday’s race with measured optimism. “I think there’s a lot of elements that we need to elevate, and hopefully we’ll try and see if we can do that into qualifying today. Definitely lots learned already so far. And yeah, now it’s just switching our mind to the next session.”
Lewis Hamilton shares a proud moment with Mercedes
Amid all the data, strategy and slick tyre wizardry, Hamilton had an emotional moment for his old team, which saw success in the form of rookie driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s pole position on Friday’s Sprint Qualifying.
“Last night, I saw the video of Bono [Peter Bonnington] and Kimi and Toto (Wolff),” referencing Antonelli’s pole and Mercedes’ proud reaction.
“It genuinely just brought warmth to my heart, because, honestly, I’ve been in that team for a long, long time. Bono is just the best. I know there was a lot of questions around whether or not to take on a more experienced driver. And to then just continue on and continue to work hard and get a pole – it kind of silences all the critics.”
“I love to see that in an underdog. Such a great story.”
Antonelli’s first lap tangle with Oscar Piastri sparked some debate, but Hamilton was not one to pile on.
“It was the trickiest of conditions. We haven’t had any running in the rain here. So that was definitely a very, very tough scenario.“
“To have the two fastest right beside you is going to be very tough, always. So I don’t really know.“
“I think I heard you say it’s close to Turn 1. I would just say to continue doing what he’s doing.”
Hamilton concluded, “I think he knows what he’s doing, and just continues to enjoy it.”
Enjoy it, roll the dice and keep your foot on it. That’s the Hamilton method. In the 2025 F1 Miami GP, it worked.
