Lewis Hamilton has apologised to Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc after failing to give him back eighth place on the final lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday, Afrosport reports.
The two drivers ran on different tyre strategies towards the end of the race, with Leclerc running on hards while Hamilton ran on the faster mediums.
Leclerc allowed Hamilton through in order to attack a train of cars led by the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson. The seven-time world champion was however unable to make any progress.
He was instructed to give eighth place back to Leclerc but failed to do so and crossed the line just 0.464 seconds ahead of the Monegasque.
Hamilton explained afterwards that he misjudged the situation as the second Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar was behind Leclerc.
“I was quicker, but Charles was gracious to let me by. At the end, I got the message really late on, and I was zoned in on the car in front of me, even though there was 0.001% chance of passing,” he explained.
“I was still hopeful, maybe. Basically, I did lift on the straight and did actually brake, but I missed it by like four-tenths, so that was just a misjudgment for myself. So I apologise to Charles. At the end of the day, it’s eighth and ninth.”
See you next time, Baku 🤝 pic.twitter.com/Cool1wtDl1
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) September 22, 2025
The result in Baku extends Hamilton’s wait to stand on the F1 podium for Ferrari for the very first time.
