Sky Sports F1’s David Croft was forced to apologise after audio of Lewis Hamilton swearing was picked up during coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Former world champion Hamilton finished third in Catalunya, ending up on the podium for the first time in 2024. Max Verstappen won again, extending his lead at the top of the drivers’ standings, with pole-sitter Lando Norris running the reigning champ close.
Hamilton has been playing catch-up this season after a difficult start, having confirmed this season would be his last with Mercedes before moving to Ferrari in 2025. The race in Barcelona was a microcosm of his season, and Hamilton endured a difficult start before making his way up through the field.
Speaking after the race, Hamilton lamented his “s*** start” and suggested he might have finished even higher otherwise. Sky Sports were broadcasting the footage from the cooldown room live and were caught unawares by Hamilton’s language, with Croft apologising to those watching at home.
It was Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell who made the fastest start, overtaking both Verstappen and Norris to lead inside the opening lap. However, Verstappen had the lead in the third lap and Russell would end up finishing behind his team-mate in fourth.
“It has been a good day, a solid weekend,” Hamilton said after his podium finish. “I have to say a big thank you to the team as they have been training so hard. The strategy and the pitstops were really on point.
“Unfortunately I got a really bad start and lost ground to the Ferraris so it was a battle to get back. With a better start… I don’t know if we could have held on to the guys ahead but I don’t think we would have been as far behind.”
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Max Verstappen won the grand prix, with Lando Norris second and Hamilton third (
Image:
Icon Sport via Getty Images)
Hamilton wasn’t the only one left regretting a slow start. It was a fourth runner-up finish of the year for the McLaren driver, but he couldn’t add to the one win he picked up in Miami. “Not could, should have won,” the 24-year-old said. “I got a bad start, simple as that.
“I’m not sure,” he added. “I need to look back and review. I don’t know what I did wrong or if I was just slightly out. It was only a little bit to Max that I lost, it wasn’t like he was completely alongside, it was more that George was suddenly outside and kind of had me over.
“Fair play, well done to Red Bull and Max, another job done for them, but a shame that we lost it at the same time, so a bit frustrating. We’ll work on it for next time.”
