Hamilton: Verstappen’s Radio Exchanges ‘Far Worse’ Than Me and Adami
Lewis Hamilton has responded to the media frenzy surrounding his radio exchanges with his new Ferrari race engineer, Riccardo Adami, during his debut with the Scuderia in Australia. The seven-time world champion felt that the media had blown the exchanges out of proportion, suggesting that similar comments made by Max Verstappen had gone unnoticed.
Hamilton’s Ferrari debut in Melbourne was marred by struggles with the car’s performance, wrong strategy calls, and a lack of chemistry with Adami. The radio exchanges between the two became a talking point, with some of their conversations making it into the TV broadcast. Hamilton had politely but curtly asked Adami to “leave me to it please” and not to repeat instructions so much.
However, Hamilton felt that the media had overegged the exchanges, taking them out of context. “Naturally, everyone overegged. It was literally just a back and forth,” he said. “I was very polite in how I had suggested it. I said: ‘Leave it to me, please’. I wasn’t saying ‘F*** you’. I wasn’t swearing.”
Hamilton suggested that there were double standards at play, pointing out that Verstappen’s fiery radio messages to his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase had not received the same level of coverage. “Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers – far worse,” he said. “The conversation that Max has with an engineer over the years, the abuse that the poor guy’s taken and you never write about it, but you wrote about the smallest little discussion I had with mine.”
Hamilton’s point can be argued, as Verstappen did receive criticism for his outburst against Lambiase during last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix. Verstappen had grown frustrated with his team’s poor strategy, telling Lambiase: “No mate, don’t give me that bullshit now. You guys gave me this f*_ing strategy, okay? I’m trying to rescue what’s left. F_* sake.”
Hamilton’s new engineer Adami faces a difficult balancing exercise as he and Hamilton get used to each other’s style of working. On one hand, Hamilton needs more instructions and reminders as he gets up to speed at a completely different team compared to his familiar Mercedes surroundings. However, the pair will now work on tightening up their communications to suit Hamilton.
Ultimately, Hamilton is confident that he and Adami will develop a strong working relationship. “We’re getting to know each other,” he said. “There are no issues, it’s done with a smiley face and we move forwards.” As Hamilton prepares for the Chinese Grand Prix, he will be looking to put the media frenzy behind him and focus on getting the best out of his Ferrari car.
