Lewis Hamilton could have avoided his high-speed spin when the rain returned in the latter stages of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

His Ferrari team summoned him into the pits before he began the lap. Liam Lawson immediately in front of him did pit but Hamilton stayed out. But the conditions had deteriorated and he spun on his next lap.

Hamilton made a strong start to the race from 20th and briefly ran as high as ninth. But Max Verstappen overtook him and Ferrari then told him to let Oliver Bearman past.

Ferrari made this call because Hamilton went off the track when he passed Bearman on the first lap. However the stewards later ruled Hamilton had not gained an advantage by doing this.

Excerpts from Hamilton’s Brazilian GP radio messages

Lap: 1/71 HAM: 1’38.201
Hamilton	Yeah, track starting to dry up.
Lap: 3/71 HAM: 1’28.427
Hamilton	The car is getting quite oversteery.
Lap: 4/71 HAM: 1’28.181
Hamilton	Don’t have any rear
Lap: 6/71 HAM: 1’28.148
Hamilton	Rear tyres are just overheating, got so much front end, can’t get close.
Hamilton	Fronts are working really well, just the rear.
Lap: 7/71 HAM: 1’28.148
Santi	We need to give the position back to Bearman behind, we were off-track.
Lap: 8/71 HAM: 1’30.578
Hamilton	Understood. Okay.

As the track dried out, Hamilton repeatedly urged his team to change his intermediate tyres for slicks. On lap 19 he told Ferrari he wanted to pit on the next lap and they duly brought him in.

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Lap: 9/71 HAM: 1’29.547
Hamilton	Yeah, this overheating’s crazy.
Hamilton	It’s not far from being slicks, mate. It’s still greasy but it’s drying up.
Hamilton	I’m just falling [unclear] behind at this rate.
Lap: 10/71 HAM: 1’29.984
Hamilton	Are you guys listening? I’m falling behind. What position have I fricking fallen back to?
Santi	You are P13. P13, we copy you.
Hamilton	Just falling back, mate.
Hamilton	Is there more rain coming?
Hamilton	I want to come in soon for some tyres, stick tyres.
Santi	Understood.
Hamilton	Can I come in now, or not?
Santi	Negative, negative. We are not in the crossover yet. We are monitoring.
Lap: 11/71 HAM: 1’27.933
Hamilton	Just got too much wing for this tyre.
Santi	EB2 suggestion, EB2.
Santi	Green 1, position 1, and let us know please track condition: one to three.
Lap: 12/71 HAM: 1’28.493
Hamilton	There’s a dry line starting to show.
Santi	Understood, thank you.
Hamilton	It’s on the edge, for sure. If you get tyre temperature, it’ll be good.
Hamilton	I’m telling you, the only place that’s slippery is out of 12.
Santi	Exactly, it’s the worst place on data. We agree, we need to wait a bit.
Hamilton	Is anyone else on slicks?
Lap: 13/71 HAM: 1’29.148
Hamilton	Negative.
Santi	Diff mid five.
Hamilton	I want to come in the next lap.

Hamilton’s switch to slicks proved perfectly-timed. However he found it difficult to gain places on the track.

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Lap: 14/71 HAM: 1’33.849
Santi	Earlier braking in six, and the balance seems coming back.
Hamilton	Can’t turn the car in a moment. We are like, either this lap or the next lap. We’re basically on the edge.
Santi	Box box box. Box box box.
Lap: 17/71 HAM: 1’22.354
Santi	We are in front of Charles.
Lap: 18/71 HAM: 1’21.068
Hamilton	What position are we?
Santi	You are 14, P14, we are racing the car in front.
Lap: 20/71 HAM: 1’20.700
Hamilton	Very hard to overtake, it’s hard to keep the car [unclear].
Santi	Boost available until the braking point, full boost.
Lap: 22/71 HAM: 1’19.609
Hamilton	The car’s really [unclear].
Lap: 23/71 HAM: 1’19.252
Santi	Normal grip condition also for SM.
Hamilton	Yeah, it’s fine for normal SM.
Hamilton	How’s my pace? Because I’m struggling.
Santi	White nine position six you have overtake you are faster than Charles.
Lap: 25/71 HAM: 1’16.958
Hamilton	Downshifting into turn one is an issue.
Santi	Copy that.
Lap: 30/71 HAM: 1’15.678
Hamilton	Let me know if I can brake later for turn one.
Santi	Turn one is good, good also 12, we are fighting for a P6 against Russell.
Lap: 32/71 HAM: 1’17.060
Hamilton	Struggling with locking into turn one.
Santi	Right toggle available for one and 10 metres earlier braking into one.
Lap: 34/71 HAM: 1’15.416
Hamilton	Let me know where I’m down!
Santi	Keep focusing in one as you did in this lap and this lap was good.

Ferrari decided Hamilton would not be able to make it to the end of the race without a fresh set of slick tyres and brought him in for an early change. However this confused Hamilton as he rejoined the track a lap behind race leader Lando Norris.

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Lap: 38/71 HAM: 1’20.249
Santi	Opposite Hulkenberg, box opposite Hulkenberg. And flap, flap.
Santi	Let me know the flap.
Lap: 39/71 HAM: 1’37.540
Hamilton	Yeah, plus two.
Santi	Box box, box box! Out lap critical, out lap critical. Mode race, we are racing Norris.
Santi	Mode race.
Hamilton	Tell me what’s happening, man, I don’t know, where am I?
Santi	I’ll let you know.
Lap: 40/71 HAM: 1’14.072
Hamilton	What do you mean you don’t know, why’s Norris ahead of me? Have I been lapped?
Santi	We are lapped, yes, you are lapped.
Santi	So we are trying to undercut Hulkenberg and closing on Russell, we are fighting P7, Norris didn’t stop yet, he’s the race leader.
Lap: 41/71 HAM: 1’13.934
Santi	30 laps to go, target lap time 14.0.
Lap: 42/71 HAM: 1’14.526
Hamilton	I’m stuck behind Norris. Has anyone else stopped? Why would you stop me?
Santi	Two other cars stopped and we have undercut Hulkenberg.

It is unusual to see a driver un-lap themselves in Formula 1. This is partly because the blue flag rules are so strict that as soon as a lapped car passes the leader they are immediately given warnings to let them through again if they do not quickly pull over a second clear.

Hamilton managed to do this and drew away from Norris.

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Lap: 43/71 HAM: 1’13.793
Hamilton	I’m getting blue flags now, but I’ve just unlapped myself.
Hamilton	What do I have to do?
Santi	Keep pushing, keep pushing.
Hamilton	What do I have to do?
Santi	Keep pushing as soon as you open the gap by one second will be fine. You are the fastest car on track, keep pushing.
Lap: 44/71 HAM: 1’13.755
Hamilton	I’m at two seconds now, I still have blue lights.
Santi	Yeah, but you are not solid anymore, keep pushing, you’re opening. Check left toggle.
Lap: 46/71 HAM: 1’14.599
Hamilton	What position am I in?
Santi	P9.
Hamilton	How am I so far behind? Who’s up ahead?
Santi	Lawson is the next car in front and we are one second faster…
Lap: 47/71 HAM: 1’14.171
Hamilton	Okay how far…
Santi	… one second faster than him.
Hamilton	Gap?
Santi	30 seconds.
Hamilton	Guys, how are we 30 seconds behind?
Santi	Because we stopped.
Hamilton	Okay, what does this mean? ‘Cause I’m so far behind now.
Santi	And now we are P8, we are so behind because we stopped, the others not, we go to the end, we don’t know the other, we’re P8.
Lap: 48/71 HAM: 1’14.141
Hamilton	The pace?
Santi	You are one second faster than Lawson.
Santi	Lawson just pitted, 23 laps to go.

At this stage in the race Ferrari hoped Hamilton could recover a top six finish.

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Lap: 49/71 HAM: 1’14.187
Hamilton	What does this pace mean to anybody else on track?
Santi	So we are fighting Lawson in front of you, three seconds, and Russell for P6 end of race. Max is lapping 13.3.
Lap: 50/71 HAM: 1’14.217
Hamilton	Is my pace like any good or everyone’s just got to new tyres now so I’m miles behind?
Santi	We have the same pace of Russell, Max is faster.
Lap: 51/71 HAM: 1’14.051
Hamilton	The tyres don’t feel great. Let me know where I’m slower.
Santi	Apex 10.
Santi	Turn 10 was better, pull back entry eight.
Lap: 52/71 HAM: 1’14.095
Hamilton	Who is this car ahead of me?
Santi	Sainz, is lapped.
Hamilton	How is Charles ahead of me?
Santi	Charles didn’t stop yet.
Hamilton	How many laps to go, because these tyres…
Lap: 53/71 HAM: 1’13.990
Santi	20 laps to go.
Santi	Lawson 13.5.

With 17 laps remaining, the rain returned.

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Lap: 54/71 HAM: 1’13.843
Hamilton	I can’t match him, he’s got fresh tyres.
Hamilton	Charles 14.[unclear].
Hamilton	Still struggling to turn the car.
Santi	B-mig 2, engine braking can help. They are reporting some drops in one.
Lap: 55/71 HAM: 1’14.177
Hamilton	Is it going to rain?
Lap: 56/71 HAM: 1’14.506
Santi	We expect rain in six laps.
Santi	You are…
Santi	The pace is very good, you are closing one second per lap with the cars in front.
Lap: 57/71 HAM: 1’14.620
Hamilton	This tyre feels terrible.
Santi	We expect this level of rain for four laps. Pace is very good
Lap: 58/71 HAM: 1’15.094
Hamilton	This tyre is not really good, just given me a lot of ground to catch.
Santi	We are swapping the cars.
Santi	B-mig three, suggestion. Charles is asked to give you the position.
Lap: 59/71 HAM: 1’16.675
Santi	Let us know about track condition.
Hamilton	Okay, it’s okay right now.
Lap: 60/71 HAM: 1’16.312
Santi	Check…
Hamilton	It’s starting to come down more.
Santi	Check left toggle, you are catching Lawson.
Santi	EB3 suggestion, EB3.

Hamilton closed on Lawson and the pair approached the pit lane entrance together on lap 61. Lawson peeled in but Hamilton appeared to get the call to come in fractionally too late.

He struggled around the rest of the lap as the rain fell, running wide at Ferradura. Then he had a high-speed spin as he approached the pit lane entrance again. This time he made it in, but his race was ruined.

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Lap: 61/71 HAM: 1’20.555
Santi	Box, box. Box, Box. Box for inter. Green four, position seven. Green four, position seven.
Lap: 62/71 HAM: 1’56.367
Hamilton	Shit I missed the pit lane.
Hamilton	Shit. Shit.
Santi	We are boxing, we are boxing.
Lap: 63/71 HAM: 1’48.166
Santi	Green four, position seven. Hamilton spins
Hamilton	I did say it was raining I just I thought I could keep going, I was fine on track. Where am I now?
Santi	I don’t know. Norris… We need to let by Norris. We need to let Norris by, we are P9, we’re racing the car behind.
Santi	Green three position four.
Lap: 66/71 HAM: 1’23.857
Hamilton	Where is everyone?
Santi	You are P9. Diff mid four.
Hamilton	I know I’m P9, where is everyone? Are we slow?
Santi	Charles is P8, he is 25 seconds ahead.
Lap: 67/71 HAM: 1’24.964
Hamilton	Rears are going up again, have you… is it the same pressures?
Santi	They are minimum pressure. B mig four.

Hamilton took the chequered flag in ninth place, a lap down.

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Lap: 68/71 HAM: 1’25.564
Hamilton	How many laps left now, my rears are [unclear].
Santi	Diff mid five, suggestion.
Lap: 70/71 HAM: 1’28.476
Santi	Last lap, last lap.
Lap: 71/71 HAM:
Hamilton	Do I still keep going, or not?
Santi	No, is the chequered flag, you were lapped. Mode charge.

2026 Brazilian Grand Prix

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