Lewis Hamilton claims the 'fire in his belly' was to blame for his sarcastic outburst at Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami during the Miami Grand Prix. The Brit finished eighth on a frustrating day for both Scuderia drivers, who were outpaced by Williams star Alex Albon and Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli.

In the late stages of the race, with Antonelli in touching distance down the road, Hamilton was itching to be let past team-mate Charles Leclerc while on faster tyres. It took several laps for the green light to come as Hamilton pleaded his case to Adami. The seven-time world champion said: "You want me to just sit here the whole race?", "This is not good teamwork", and "In China, I got out of the way when you were on a different strategy".

Hamilton was still irked when he finally got the go-ahead, as he sarcastically quipped: "Take a tea break while you're at it." There was further evidence of discontent when a second controversial call came through, as he was asked to swap back with Leclerc after failing to close the gap on Antonelli.

Adami informed him that Carlos Sainz was just over a second behind after swapping positions, and Hamilton snapped: "Do you want me to let him past too?"

After the race, the 40-year-old put his feisty exchanges down to a burning desire to win. He said: "I've still got my fire in my belly. I could feel a bit of it really coming up there. I'm not going to apologise for being a fighter. I'm not going to apologise for still wanting it. I know everyone in the team does, too.

"I didn't think the decision came quick enough. And for sure, in that time you're like, 'Come on!' But that's really kind of it. I have no problems with the team or with Charles. I think we could do better. But the car is not where we really need to be. Ultimately we're fighting for seventh and eighth."

Hamilton ditched Mercedes for Ferrari to fulfil a childhood dream, but his first season in red has been anything but a fairytale thus far. After six races, he is a staggering 90 points behind Drivers' Championship leader Oscar Piastri, 12 behind team-mate Leclerc, and trailing both Mercedes drivers, including the teenager Toto Wolff recruited to take his seat.

McLaren stars Piastri and Lando Norris finished one and two in Miami, with rival teams still miles behind the runaway Championship leaders.