Ferrari frustration mounts as Hamilton and Leclerc struggle at Miami Grand Prix

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Lewis Hamilton arrived at the Miami Grand Prix admittedly frustrated with his slow start to the Formula 1 season driving for Ferrari.

There was little improvement to his performance, and Hamilton was ordered by Ferrari to give up seventh place in Sunday's race to teammate Charles Leclerc. Hamilton settled for eighth, his worst finish since he was disqualified from the second race of the season.

Even so, the seven-time F1 champion was upbeat after the race.

“I generally enjoyed the race,” Hamilton said. “I think this weekend, while we were not as quick as we want to be, I feel like I had a better weekend in general. The result might not show it, but I was 12th to seventh.”

Hamilton even briefly thought he'd have a fantastic day when a change to medium tires made him feel “the car really come alive and I felt super optimistic in that moment.”

Even so, Ferrari had nothing for McLaren Racing, which went 1-2 with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

“I think it wasn't a good weekend ... we can't be satisfied with P7 and P8,” said Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur. “You start P8 and P12, it's almost impossible to fight your way back and challenge the cars ahead. The other thing is that McLaren was probably on another planet. We had enough pace to battle with Red Bull and Mercedes, but not with McLaren.”

Piastri has four victories this year — three in a row — and Norris has one as McLaren has won five of the first six races. Four-time defending F1 champion Max Verstappen has one win, while Ferrari has yet to even challenge with Hamilton and Leclerc.

Compounding problems for Ferrari in Miami was a crash on Saturday when Leclerc lost control of his car as he headed out to the track for the sprint race. He wasn't able to compete in the sprint and Ferrari had to hustle to even have him ready for qualifying.

Hamilton finished third in the sprint race but then failed to carry the momentum into qualifying. His only complaint after the race, though? Not the team orders to give Leclerc position, but in how slow Ferrari was to communicate the plan.

It seemed that Ferrari told Leclerc before the team told Hamilton, so when Leclerc first attempted the pass, it didn't work. Once Hamilton got the message, the British driver let Leclerc by on the next lap.

“This is not good team work. That’s all I’m going to say,” Hamilton said on the Ferrari team radio.

After the race, Hamilton said he thought he was actually pretty fast when Ferrari called for the position swap.

“I was clearly quick at that moment and I didn't think the decision came quick enough,” Hamilton said. “And then for sure, in that time, you're like ‘Come on.’ I have no problems with the team or Charles. I think we can do better, but the car is where we really need to go to work.”

Leclerc said he knows Ferrari's drama in Miami will make for a compelling controversy in F1, but that the true problem is the car just isn't good enough.

“We need to do better, that's for sure. Today was not ideal and was far from maximizing our potential,” he said. “We've got to regroup as a team and be better.”

He admitted that like Hamilton, Leclerc is also frustrated by Ferrari's performance so far this season. His best finish to date was third at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last month.

“There's frustration already that you are, I was fighting for P8 and I was not making any gains,” Leclerc said. “I was really struggling with the car, so there's a frustration of that and then all the rest and it all adds up.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Ferrari Drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton drive together before the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Miami Gardens. Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco races during the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Miami Gardens. Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain makes a pit stop during the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Miami Gardens. Fla. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo via AP)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain prepares to compete before the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Miami Gardens. Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112960386/en/

Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.

This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.

Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.

“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”

The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:

“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”

About Availity

Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Abridge

Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.

Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.

Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation