Lewis Hamilton makes rude gesture by flipping off F1 rival at Miami Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton makes rude gesture by flipping off F1 rival at Miami Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton finished sixth in his Ferrari

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 4 May 2026 20:29

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was not happy with one of his F1 rivals at the Miami Grand Prix, producing a rude gesture towards them.

Hamilton struggled all-weekend long at the Miami International Autodrome, not getting close to his team-mate Charles Leclerc in either of the two qualifying sessions.

Ferrari in general would not have been satisfied with their performance. Having brought 11 upgrades to the circuit ahead of the weekend, they were hoping to be in the hunt for the grand prix victory after claiming podiums in each of the previous three grands prix of the season.

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But that was not to be, Hamilton suffered early damage to his car and crossed the line in seventh, while Leclerc badly damaged his SF-26 on the final lap of the race, and finished sixth.

A later penalty for Leclerc demoted him behind Hamilton and Franco Colapinto and into eighth, meaning 41-year-old Hamilton was actually classified in sixth.

But the damage that Hamilton suffered to his car was caused by a lap one collision with Argentine driver Colapinto, with the pair squabbling for position in the early exchanges.

And now, previously unseen footage of Hamilton finally getting past the Alpine of Colapinto has surfaced on social media, with Hamilton seen flipping off Colapinto as he drove past him.

Hamilton was said to be losing around 15-20 points of downforce following the incident, which caused damage to his winglets and floor.

Hamilton's form struggling once more?

While Hamilton could not do too much about his result in the grand prix due to the damage caused by the Colapinto clash, it was a poor qualifying performance that put him down in sixth and challenging with the Alpine in the first place.

Hamilton also struggled in sprint qualifying on Friday too, while he fell away from the pace of the frontrunners in the sprint race on Saturday.

This disappointing weekend for the 41-year-old was much more reminiscent of his form for much of the 2025 season, struggling to match the pace of team-mate Leclerc, particularly in qualifying, but he did outscore the Monegasque driver in the main race.

Hamilton has performed much better in 2026 so far, and has claimed a grand prix podium already, something that he didn't do throughout the whole of 2025.

Now it's time for him to push on and try and claim a first grand prix victory in Ferrari red, but he will need to be regularly outperforming Leclerc to have any hope of that.

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Miami Grand Prix Franco Colapinto