Lewis Hamilton is not Formula One’s most furious radio ranter. His style is typically more temperate and cool, measured responses doled out between scooter sessions around the paddock. But when he does blow his top, it sends shockwaves through the grid.
The Mercedes star’s latest meltdown came in the aftermath of a disastrous, rain-lashed Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, which saw him crash out of Q1, stutter to 11th in the sprint race, and judder to tenth in the real thing.
‘That was a disaster of a weekend guys,’ he ranted on the radio. ‘That’s the worst the car has ever been.’
The Brit, who is joining Ferrari next season, even threatened to quit the season three races early and take a holiday.
With that in mind, Mail Sport brings you five of Hamilton’s meltdowns from over the years.
Lewis Hamilton branded the Brazil GP a ‘disaster of a weekend’ – but it’s not his only meltdown
The Mercedes star was only able to finish 10th on a drenched circuit after struggling in quali
Abusing Mercedes crew: ‘You f***ing SCREWED me’
The past four seasons have been frustrating for Hamilton and in 2022 he let loose with a verbal barrage at his crew.
In September 2022, after a Dutch Grand Prix which saw his hopes for a first win of the season fade due to fading tyres, he took out his anger on the team. Hamilton had been leading until 10 laps to go when a safety car was deployed, and most of the grid dove into the pits for fresh soft tyres, while Mercedes kept him out on the mediums.
When racing got underway again, arch-nemesis Max Verstappen got by him, before team-mate George Russell and Charles Leclerc passed to bump him down to fourth.
‘I can’t believe you guys f***ing screwed me, man. I can’t tell you how p****d I am right now,’ he blasted. Hamilton later told Sky F1: ‘I was just on the edge of breaking point with emotions and my apologies to the team because I don’t even remember what I said, I just lost it for a second.’
Unfortunately, the Brit failed to win a race that season, meaning it was the first campaign since his debut in 2007 that he failed to stand on the top of the podium.
Hamilton was livid after the 2022 Dutch GP, where he lost the race win after a strategy risk by his crew backfired
‘I can’t believe you guys f***ing screwed me, man. I can’t tell you how p****d I am right now,’ Hamilton vented after other drivers on fresh tyres denied him of a first victory of the season
Cold shoulder to Rosberg: ‘We’re not friends’
Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were childhood buddies from karting. They grew up together playing football and tennis, even riding unicycles. But their relationship was scorched by tension when they were team-mates at Mercedes.
The British racing icon was fuming after the 2014 Monaco GP, which saw Rosberg win and claim the lead in the title race. Hamilton felt Rosberg should have been penalised in qualifying, but the German was not, and he went on to claim pole and subsequently the race win.
Mercedes secured a fifth consecutive one-two finish, but Hamilton was fuming. ‘We have one strategist who is absolutely amazing but unfortunately the role in the team is that he has to look out for number one and the second guy comes second. I know from the get-go that I have less of an opportunity to win the race.’
He added: ‘We’re not friends (Rosberg and I). We’re colleagues.’
Asked if their years of knowing each other does not count as friendship, he could not respond. At the end of that season it worked out for Hamilton as he won the title that season on the final day.
But he was not overly gracious when the German finally won the championship in 2016, needing to be persuaded to shake his long-time team-mate’s hand and blaming car issues for why he didn’t take the gong himself.
Hamilton had a strained relationship with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg despite them being childhood friends
They had multiple clashes and Hamilton was ungracious when Rosberg won the title in 2016
Ranting on Verstappen: ‘This guy’s f***ing CRAZY’
The 2021 season is when the guard changed. Max Verstappen claimed his first Drivers’ Championship crown on a controversial final day in Abu Dhabi which has not been forgotten. But the race before in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was paranoid, vexatious, and ill-tempered in its own right.
In a race that was red flagged twice, Hamilton won by 21 seconds, but only after Verstappen was hit with a total of 15 seconds in penalties.
After the Dutchman undercut him at a corner, colliding with him and veering off track to gain a big advantage – which he later had to give back – Hamilton vented: ‘This guy’s f***ing crazy, man.’
Then, later in the race, Hamilton accused Verstappen of deliberately slowing down in front of him to cause them to collide, which they did. ‘He just brake-tested me,” he said over the team radio. ‘That was dangerous driving.’
And despite winning the race, he later doubled down on his criticism of Verstappen: ‘I’ve raced a lot of drivers in my life, in the (last) 28 years. There’s a few at the top which are over the limit. Rules kinda don’t apply, or they don’t think of the rules. He’s over the limit, for sure. I’ve avoided collision on so many occasions with the guy.’
After the shocking final day of the season, which saw Verstappen overtake Hamilton on the last lap after the race was incorrectly restarted, the Brit was shell-shocked sand later said: ‘I couldn’t quite compute what had happened, the emotions I was feeling inside of me were hard to bear.’
Hamilton accused Max Verstappen of slowing down deliberately to cause a collision in 2021 as their title race came towards its climax
Verstappen went on to win the title in controversial circumstances in the United Arab Emirates
Feud with Alonso
Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were famously at loggerheads in 2007 as the Brit raced in his debut season with McLaren. The Spaniard was coming off the back of two consecutive titles with Renault, but after his move to McLaren, his upstart rookie team-mate proved nippier than anyone imagined.
It wasn’t so much verbal outbursts that defined their feud, but their actions. At Monaco in 2007, Hamilton pushed Alonso incredibly hard in the closing stages of the race despite being under instructions to stay behind him and bring home a one-two finish.
Asked if he was trying to cause Alonso to make a mistake, Hamilton said ‘absolutely,’ adding: ‘The only way to get past is to apply pressure.’ he was also bitter at finishing second.
Later in the season, at the Hungarian GP, Hamilton failed to honour an agreement to allow Alonso past him during qualifying, before the Spaniard retaliated by blocking him in the pit lane.
McLaren paid the price for the petty feud. Both drivers finished that season with 109 points, one behind the Drivers’ Championship winner, Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari. Alonso hotfooted it back to Renault after one season and it has been a blame game ever since.
Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were a formidable pair at McLaren in 2007 but the campaign was underlined by tension
The Brit proved faster than the two-time world champion expected and the Spaniard left the team after just one season to return to Renault
‘The WORST the car has ever been’
Hamilton’s most recent meltdown from Brazil must be included.
As previously detailed, Hamilton branded it a ‘disaster’ of a weekend. It was for Hamilton, but not so much for Russell, who qualified in pole position and eventually came fourth. Russell has now outqualified Hamilton on 16 occasions to five this campaign, and outraced him 11 times to six. Hamilton does not take kindly to being second-best.
After a debacle of a weekend, he threatened to quit the Mercedes operation altogether. ‘If this is the last time I get to perform,’ said, hinting at a potential early end to his season, ‘it’s a shame it wasn’t great, but (I’m) grateful for you.’
The seven-time world champion was labelled the stint in Sao Paulo a ‘disaster of a weekend’ on his radio
Hamilton’s podium turns this season seem a distant memory after a poor showing in Brazil
Speaking after the race, Hamilton doubled down on his criticism of the car, adding that it was enough to make him want to take the rest of the year off. ‘It’s like a plank of wood. It’s like, no suspension,’ he added. ‘It’s bouncing on the tyres everywhere and you can’t get on the power anywhere.
‘It’s just the worst ride, I think the worst ride that we’ve definitely ever had, particularly through corners. It’s just so stiff. But hopefully we won’t have any more bumpy tracks. I think the last three aren’t so bumpy. But yeah, I could happily go and take a holiday.’