Lewis Hamilton and new Ferrari race engineer set for crunch meeting after fiery exchange at Australian GP
LEWIS HAMILTON and his new race engineer will be having a bonding session ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend.
For 12-years all Hamilton knew at the end of his team radio at Mercedes was Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington and his famous ‘Hammer time’ call.
The pair began working together in 2013 when Hamilton joined the team and forged one of the greatest racer-engineer partnerships in history, winning six world titles together over 12, mostly glittering, seasons.
The two developed an unbreakable bond over the years with Hamilton referring to Bono as a “brother”.
But that pair were ripped apart when Bono was promoted to head of race engineering at Mercedes, meaning the pair’s partnership concluded when Hamilton joined Ferrari this season.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton, 40, said before his debut in Melbourne on Sunday that he will “know early on” whether or not his relationship with his new race engineer Riccardo Adami at Ferrari will work.
Well, if the fiery exchange between the two after a Ferrari strategy blunder in the opener in Melbourne is anything to go by then it’s not looking good.
Hamilton played things down after Sunday’s race and said: “We’re learning about each other, and after this we’ll download and go through all the comments, things I said and vice-versa.
“Generally, I’m not one that likes a lot of information in the race, unless I need it, I’ll ask for it. He did his best today, and we’ll move forwards for sure.
“I’ve learned a huge amount this weekend, there’s a lot to take away from it. And I’ve got some changes I’ve got to make for next week.
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“Sunday was a crash course in driving a Ferrari in the rain.”
Hamilton led the Australian Grand Prix briefly but the Italian team produced a strategy blunder leaving him finishing the race in P10 as they left it too late to pit him as the rain came down.
Hamilton blasted, “S***!” before apologising after not realising the radio was still on after Ferrari’s mistake.
Hamilton had qualified eighth and was sassy throughout with Adami who tried to give the Brit information about DRS, but he replied: “Leave it guys, leave it.”
Adami, 51, has been working with Ferrari since 2015, having previously worked with Toro Rosso.
He worked as Sebastian Vettel’s race engineer and worked with Carlos Sainz in 2021 before he was replaced by Hamilton.
When Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur was asked if there were communication issues between Hamilton and Adami, he replied: “It was the first race, the first time that we have to communicate between the pitwall and the car.
“We can do a better job and know each other more, for sure it was not a clean one at all, the strategy was difficult and we need to find a better way to communicate between the car and the pitwall but we will learn from race one and it is not an issue.
McLaren looked like the fastest car on the grid, with Lando Norris securing the win and Oscar Piastri second for most of the race before finishing in P9 after spinning off track.
Max Verstappen came in second ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull boss Christian Horner has urged people not to get too carried away due to how unique the Melbourne track is.
He said: “China is the first representative race circuit of quite a few venues. It will be fascinating to see how Ferrari performs there.
“McLaren will be quick there I have no doubts about that.”