Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1, Fan Reactions, Charles Leclerc
Ryan Smart
Topics: Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1, Fan Reactions, Charles Leclerc
Lewis Hamilton has spoken out after fans were left furious over Ferrari's actions before his Dutch Grand Prix crash.
Hamilton lost control of his Ferrari coming out of the turn three banking on lap 23 and hit the wall.
The impact caused terminal damage to the right side of his car as the mid-race rain began to get heavier.
Hamilton was sixth, close behind Mercedes' George Russell, at the time of the crash, which caused him to retire from a Grand Prix for the first time in 2025.
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The incident was caused by driver error, but also may have been impacted by the fact that Hamilton had not yet pitted and was running on old tyres on a slippery track surface.
But fans of Hamilton have been left less than happy after hearing that Ferrari in fact decided to turn down his request to pit moments before his crash.
The seven-time champion had informed race engineer Riccardo Adami that he wanted to undercut the drivers ahead of him by pitting early.
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Adami subsequently replied: "We're on it."
However, Hamilton stayed out, with Ferrari instead pitting team-mate Charles Leclerc for fresh tyres.
The safety car did cost Leclerc a place to Russell but that mattered little by the end of the race, with the Monegasque forced to retire himself after being hit by Russell's team-mate Kimi Antonelli following his second pit stop.
Reacting to the team radio exchange, one fan wrote: "'We need to undercut these people', Ferrari proceeds to bring in Leclerc and Hamilton crashed due to understeer/oversteer. Good job guys!!!"
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A second stated: "They were not on it."
And a third added: "Hamilton wanted to pit, Ferrari said no we are thinking, he crashed the very next lap. How can a team be so incompetent??"
A fourth agreed: "'We are on it', pits Leclerc, Hamilton crashes out."
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However, speaking to F1TV about his crash, Hamilton explained that, although he wanted the undercut, he didn't necessarily want to pit on the lap before the incident.
"I generally felt like it was going okay," he said. "I had good pace compared to Charles ahead of me. And my tyres were still okay.
"The rear was just getting a bit twitchy - I got to turn three and had a snap and I couldn't recover."
He also clarified that although he hadn't immediately wanted the undercut, he accepted that it would be needed sooner rather than later.
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"I was just saying that we would probably try and undercut them at some point," he said.