Lewis Hamilton in fiery exchange with Ferrari F1 race engineer at Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton in fiery exchange with Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton is starting his time at Ferrari in Melbourne

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 16 March 2025 12:57

Lewis Hamilton may just be missing former race engineer Peter 'Bono' Bonnington at the Australian Grand Prix, after a tense exchange with his new Ferrari engineer.

Hamilton and Bono shared a great relationship at Mercedes, with the Brit by Hamilton's side as he claimed six world championship titles in 12 seasons at the Brackley outfit.

F1 HEADLINES: Lewis Hamilton summoned by FIA as star receives Australian GP demotion

Article continues under video

However, this weekend, Hamilton made his debut with the Ferrari team, following a shock move earlier this year, and has a new race engineer in Italian Riccardo Adami.

Hamilton struggled in the early stages of his Ferrari grand prix debut, stuck down in eighth and struggling to get past the Williams of Alex Albon, a situation which caused a tense exchange between the pair.

Lewis Hamilton made his Ferrari debut at the Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton and Peter Bonnington shared a close relationship at Mercedes

Hamilton begins new relationship

As Hamilton went back and forth with Adami asking him where he was slow so that he could attempt to get closer to Albon, the Italian engineer told him he was slow in turns 11 and 12.

Later in the lap, Adami also confirmed to Hamilton that 'K1 is available' - just one example of F1 jargon - to which Hamilton responded in classic seven-time world champion style.

"Yes I know, leave me to it please," Hamilton responded as he tried to focus on his pace in the chaotic wet conditions at the Australian GP.

Later in the race, following a call to pit onto intermediate tyres under a safety car, Hamilton told Adami that they had 'missed a big opportunity'.

Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had stayed out on the slicks and were up in second and third, when a safety car was called, but with the rain teeming down, Ferrari decided to pit both drivers, putting them right back down to ninth and 10th.

While Hamilton remained polite with his new race engineer, those frustrations will continue to grow if Ferrari struggle to give him a car capable of challenging the McLarens and four-time world champion Max Verstappen.