
Lewis Hamilton made a gesture with one of his fingers towards another driver while overtaking them during the Miami Grand Prix.
Hamilton crossed the line in seventh place in Miami but was promoted to sixth following team-mate Charles Leclerc's 20-second penalty, which was applied post-race by the FIA stewards.
He had made several places in the opening corners but was one of several cars who had to take evasive action to avoid Max Verstappen's spinning Red Bull out of turn three.
Heading in to turn 11, he then made contact with the Alpine of Franco Colapinto, causing significant floor and right sidepod damage to his Ferrari.
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It was estimated that the contact lost him around 0.5 seconds of downforce per lap, and effectively ended any hopes of a positive result in the fourth Grand Prix of the season.
Hamilton would tell Crash.net: "I lost about half a second of downforce on the car, and I was just driving around for nothing really - well, trying to get as many points as I could with the damage.
"I think we progressed going into qualifying, and the laps to the grid felt really strong - I was already feeling like, 'Yeah, we're going to be strong in this race'."
The incident with Colapinto occurred after the Argentinian attempted an overtaking move into the tight turn 11.
While the Alpine driver managed to keep his car on the circuit and inside track limits, he left Hamilton with little to no room on the outside and made heavy contact with the side of his Ferrari.
When Hamilton re-overtook Colapinto later on in the race down the back straight, he made his feelings clear about the manoeuvre.
The seven-time world champion gestured towards Colapinto with his index or middle finger - it isn't entirely clear which - to indicate that he was not happy with the earlier move.
There likely will not be long-lasting hard feelings between the pair, though, given the mutual respect they share for each other and the positive tone in which they have spoken about each other in the past.
Colapinto has referred to Hamilton as his childhood hero, and the seven-time champion reserved special praise for the Argentinian and his fellow rookie Ollie Bearman after they made impressive debuts at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Hamilton said on that occasion: "When I got to Formula 1, I don't remember ever having a warm welcome from anyone [other drivers] ... I just remember what it was like being that young and having that experience and how tough it is.
"Now I'm seeing these two do such an amazing job. I've got both of them ahead of me, at one point, driving so well, not making mistakes, really talented, but also have really bright futures in front of them."
Colapinto would recover from his incident with Hamilton in Miami to finish an impressive seventh while also benefitting from Leclerc's penalty, further showcasing his talents as he looks to secure his long-term future in Formula 1.
Topics:Ā Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari