Lewis Hamilton has downplayed the tense radio exchanges with Ferrari during the Miami Grand Prix, describing his messages as "sarcastic" rather than expressions of frustration.
The seven-time world champion engaged in heated back-and-forth communications with his team after catching team-mate Charles Leclerc during Sunday's race.
"I feel people didn't like certain comments, but, I mean, it was just, you got to understand, especially, people say way worse things than I say," Hamilton told Sky F1.
The veteran started the sixth round of the season from a disappointing 12th position on the grid.
He managed to elevate himself into the top 10 after pitting during a virtual safety car.
Following his pit stop, Hamilton displayed remarkable pace on the medium compound tyres.
This strong performance helped him quickly catch up to Leclerc, who was running in sixth position.
The British driver was eager to be allowed past his team-mate, although Ferrari initially rejected this request.
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This triggered some heated radio exchanges between Hamilton and the Ferrari pit wall, with the team eventually allowing Hamilton to overtake Leclerc.
Remarkably, the Briton then had to return the position to his teammate in the final laps at the Miami International Autodrome.
Despite the apparent tension in these communications, Hamilton has stressed that his radio discussions were not as bad as they might have seemed.
The exchanges came as Hamilton was pushing to maximise his race position after finding good pace on the medium tyres.
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"Well, firstly, I really enjoyed the race," Hamilton told Sky F1. "Honestly, we knew it was going to be difficult today, starting from 12th, not where we want to be.
"We're lacking, clearly, a lot of pace. We've lost some performance over the past, some races, and we know where it is, and we're just waiting for a fix to regain some of it."
Hamilton remained optimistic despite the challenges.
"I'm not frustrated now. I just will work internally," he added.
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"Once I got past the Haas, and I got onto the medium tyre, I was feeling really optimistic. The car was coming back alive, and I was really thinking I had potential to catch the guys."
He clarified that his radio messages were more light-hearted than they appeared.
"It was more sarcastic than anything," Hamilton insisted.
Meanwhile, Leclerc was disappointed as Ferrari endured yet another difficult day at the office.
"It’s a difficult situation, I think I will unfortunately go for the boring answer and I’m not going to comment too much here," he said.
"It’s obvious today is not the way we want to manage a race, we will discuss internally to make better decisions.
"There’s no bad feelings for Lewis [Hamilton] absolutely not, it’s just as a team we need to do better and today was a proof of that. For the rest I don’t want to speak more into the details."
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