Lewis Hamilton found his first F1 race weekend with his new Ferrari team much tougher than he would have hoped. The seven times champion was a long way off his team mate in the first practice session, but gradually honed in on Charles Leclerc as the weekend rolled on.
In qualifying Hamilton was the closest he’d been to the Monegasque driver as he finished Q3 just 0.18 seconds behind his team mate. Yet Ferrari which had looked to be quick all weekend proved over one lap it was tougher on its tyres than the McLaren’s and the Red Bull and Mercedes’ in the hands of max Verstappen and George Russell.
The result was not the debut Lewis had hoped for as he lined up behind his team mate in P8 at the start of a wet Grand Prix in Melbourne. As the race began, Leclerc made light work of the of Alex Albon who started ahead of him, but Hamilton struggled behind Williams up to when the first round of pit stops came.
Hamilton asks for help
During this part of the race, Hamilton’s engineer could be repeatedly heard giving his driver advice and time and again reminding Lewis to use “K1”, which is the Ferrari button to deploy the extra electrical power.
Hamilton who has for twelve years had race engineer Peter Bonnington in his ear appeared to be frustrated by the persistent engagement from Ferrari’s Riccardo Adami, who is no rookie to the role having engineered for Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz before Hamilton.
On lap 15 Hamilton asked his engineer for help for the first time. “Let me know where I’m slow. I’m struggling with driveability. The car is snappy,” said the Ferrari driver. He was told it was in turn 11 and 12 along with a host of technical information, which to the educated er was illegible.
Lewis responded to the instruction about the “K1” switch by telling Adami to “leave me to it,” and his tone was reminiscent of the irritation expressed by the legendary Kimi Raikkonen who told his engineer in Abu Dhabi 2013, “leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.”
Lewis’ engineer offers advice
Hamilton continued to struggle with the Williams ahead and on lap 29 his engineer intervened with a tip to assist his driver overtake. “To avoid denying DRS, we suggest upshift and then DRS,” Adami explained to Hamilton.
“Yes, I know. Leave me to it,” responded Lewis again, telling his engineer that DRS was not a problem. Again on lap 32 Adami intervenes with a suggestion to his driver to try using “K1” again, to which Lewis responded “I’m not close enough to deploy it.”
The teams began to inform their drivers that rain was on the way as the Grand Prix entered its final stages. Adami in his awkward Italian accented English told Hamilton the rain would be short, sharp and sweet and so the decision was made for Lewis to stay out while others pitted.
This proved to be the wrong decision by Ferrari and given a number of other drivers had stopped for intermediate tyres the crashes of Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto proved crucial. The Ferrari pair then were instructed to stop for wet weather tyres, but found themselves cycling towards the back of those who remained on the lead lap.
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On lap 48 out of 57 Lewis realises the strategy error made by the team and questions the decision to his engineer. “I thought you said it wasn’t going to rain much? We missed a big opportunity there.
“What position am I back in? P9? Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttt”. Then “Shit. Sorry, didn’t realise the radio was on,” Lewis quickly revealed on the team radio, given the hoo haa that has been made by the FIA over d=F1 drivers’ using bad language.
Of course Hamilton and Adami are a new partnership in F1, but the Italian engineer’s radio style has always been somewhat difficult to listen to even in the days of Vettel and Sainz. Whether Ricciardo Adami will remain as Hamilton’s engineer is surely up for debate, and Lewis’ clearly made it plain to the post race media, it was poor information he received which affected his race.
“I hung out for as long as I could and got the lead at one point, but the guidance just in terms of how much more rain was coming was missing there. So I think we missed out,” said Hamilton.
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“The information that I got was just that it was a short shower, quick, and at the time it was only in the last corner. So for me, I was like, ‘well, if the rest of the track is dry then I can keep this on track if that’s coming’. But then more came,” Hamilton shrugged.
Ex-F1 racer and Sky expert analyst, Karun Chandhok suggested that Hamilton and his engineer needed to talk before China a=in a few days time. “One of the things that came out of all the radio messages we played was that he and his engineer Riccardo Adami need to have a bit more time to understand just how much communication Lewis wants and what type of information.
“There were a number of times Lewis asked, ‘Tell me something’. They would give him information but then Lewis said, ‘It’s too much, stop telling him and leave it to me.’ They just need to build that bond.
“Race engineers and drivers will spend more time together than they do with their partners in the season. It’s still round one and they just have to find their feet, maybe have a conversation between now and China. I would be interested to listen to the radio in China and see if it’s different. They just need to have a conversation,” concluded Chandhok.
Lewis refutes ‘too much information’
Hamilton sought to defuse the potential media story in the press pen after the race. “I think Riccardo did a really good job,” he said. “We’re learning about each other and, bit by bit, after this, we’ll download and go through all the comments, all the things I said.
“Generally I’m not one who likes a load of comments [from my engineer] during a race. If I need it I’ll ask for it. But he did his best today and we’ll go through it,” concluded Lewis on the matter.
The seven times F1 champion is hoping not only to beat his team mate this year, but claim that elusive and record breaking 8th world championship. Yet for now it appears from his comments, there’s a long way to go before he’s happy in the new car.
“It felt like I was in the deep, deep end today. Just everything was new. From the first time driving it in the rain, the car was behaving a lot different to what I’ve experienced in the past – the power unit, the steering functions they’re throwing to you, you’re trying to juggle it all.
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“I’ve definitely made a step but it’s just confidence. On Friday, particularly in the high speed [corners], I was down all the time [on team-mate Charles Leclerc]. And then on Saturday the confidence came back and I was building, building, building. And then we got to the race and again I was starting from scratch. I didn’t have any confidence for pretty much the whole race,” Lewis revealed.
Hamilton described the car as “really hard to drive today” and that he was “just grateful that I kept it out of the wall because that’s where it wanted to go most of the time.”
Lewis’ team mate also suffered an eventful day and was also left out on slicks with his team mate as others switched for the wet tyres. He then spun his car which appeared to change Ferrari’s mind over the tyre choice and came out behind Hamilton when the pair were shod with wet weather rubber.
Leclerc then appeared to have a greater confidence in the car than Hamilton and easily passed him on his way to finish in P8. Hamilton claimed the last point on offer which is not the way he hoped his Ferrari career would begin.
Christian Horner had the last laugh on the Ferrari strategy calls when he admitted to being surprised at how slow Ferrari reacted to the conditions at the circuit. “I think you’ve always got to react very much to what’s going on around you, and when it’s p—ing down in the pit lane, it’s usually a good time to put some wet tyres on,” quipped the Red Bull boss.
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With the first weekend of the Formula one season now complete, the host of F1 observers who believed that McLaren have had the best of the winter car development, were proven right. The team were cruising to their 52nd ever 1-2 finish, when the rain returned late in the Melbourne race causing havoc throughout the field.
Norris and Piastri misjudged the grip in the penultimate corner with both leaving the circuit and scrabbling to return to the asphalt. Norris made it back ahead of Verstappen, but home boy Piastri remained stuck in the grass and finally rejoined at the rear of the pack.
The final result saw Verstappen claim P2 as Norris racked up his his fifth Grand Prix win, all in the last nineteen F1 weekends and he now equals the world champions win tally over the same time period. The race result meant for the first tine since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix, another driver besides Max Verstappen was now leading the drivers’ title race and the intrigue did not stop there…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
