Lewis Hamilton has admitted his sarcastic radio comments to Ferrari were as a result of the team wasting time in the latter stages of the Miami GP.

The Brit battled from 12th to seventh and wanted to overtake Charles Leclerc for sixth, which Ferrari initially denied before allowing.

Hamilton was then instructed to give the position back to Leclerc, and he made his feelings clear on the radio.

After the race, the seven-time world champion was in high spirits but bemoaned the time Ferrari wasted during the incident.

"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. So for us to be at the back of the top 10 is definitely not easy for the whole team.

"But, yeah, 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.

"I was hoping we'd have a safety car, but that never became. But then obviously I lost a lot of time behind Charles and in that moment, for sure, I was like, come on, like, let's make a decision really quick. Let's not waste time.

"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, you know, so it was more sarcastic than anything. I'm not frustrated now. I just will work internally."