Lewis Hamilton shares awkward conversation with Ferrari engineer as relationship strained | F1 | Sport
Lewis Hamilton nearly snapped at his Ferrari race engineer over a gearbox issue at the Spanish Grand Prix. The driver’s relationship with Riccardo Adami, which has often appeared tense, will face further scrutiny after a fresh incident in Barcelona.
Hamilton complained about his gearbox during qualifying ahead of Sunday’s race. He told the team that the downshift was “not working” and that there was “something wrong” as he attempted to shift gears. Adami confirmed that the team would take a look before Hamilton then insisted that it had started to work again. What ensued was an extremely awkward conversation.
“Try again to downshift now, please. If it’s working, otherwise we box,” Adami instructed the seven-time world champion.
Hamilton insisted: “I just told you it’s working.”
But Adami was having none of it and wanted to ensure the issue was properly resolved. He asked Hamilton: “Can you try take a start? Box, box. We prefer to box and check it.”
Hamilton sighed, responding: “The downshift is okay.”
When Adami ignored Hamilton’s wish to continue, the driver bluntly hit back: “I can do the start, dude. It’s fine.”
It comes a week after Hamilton remarkably sought reassurance about their relationship over the team radio. Adami had side-stepped the 40-year-old’s question, asking how far ahead his rivals were at the Monaco Grand Prix. The engineer told them they were simply “fighting” and would not confirm to the former Mercedes star whether or not they were a minute ahead.
A frustrated Hamilton bluntly told Adami: “You’re not answering the question. But it doesn’t really matter, I’m just asking, am I a minute behind or…?”
Adami eventually relented, telling Hamilton that those at the front were 48 seconds ahead. The Ferrari star then asked: “Are you upset with me?”
However, his question went unanswered. It is unclear whether Adami had purposely ignored him or whether the Italian had left the team communication system by that point.
Despite qualifying in fifth for today’s Grand Prix, Hamilton slated Ferrari’s car throughout the practice sessions at the start of the weekend. During FP1, he told Adami “that was bad”, and then labelled his SF-25 “undriveable” during FP2. His criticism prompted an intervention from team principal Fred Vasseur, who said: “I think we had a very good pace this morning. We struggled a bit more in the afternoon.”
