Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton eases Ferrari tension with emotional message

Lewis Hamilton's debut season with Ferrari has not gone to plan

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 23 May 2025 21:02

Tensions at Ferrari appear to have thawed as Lewis Hamilton delivered an emotional address following the start of the 2025 season's European triple-header.

The seven-time world champion’s first campaign with Ferrari has not delivered on the promise of a fight for an eighth championship so far and in recent races, the Scuderia have alarmingly fallen further behind both Mercedes and Red Bull.

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However, Hamilton secured his best grand prix finish of the season in Imola last time out, crossing the finish line fourth in a huge comeback after Ferrari’s double-Q2 exit on Saturday.

The result prompted an emotional team radio message from Hamilton towards his race engineer Riccardo Adami, whose relationship has appeared strained over the airwaves in 2025, but the champion’s words at last weekend's grand prix represent an easing of tensions.

"Thanks so much mate! What a great race guys! Fantastic stops, strategy, the car felt great today. I'm so grateful, so proud. Grazie a tutti! [Thank you, all] And for the tifosi... that was for them," Hamilton said.

Adami then complimented Hamilton on his performance, to which the 40-year-old responded: "Let's keep pushing. We get that qualifying better and we can race like that, we will be winning."

Hamilton and Adami’s relationship improves in time for Monaco

Hamilton’s comments to Adami in the opening rounds of 2025 have more often than not dominated headlines, with the champion’s sarcastic tone coming to the fore in Miami with his ‘take a tea break’ remark.

However, after the race in Emilia-Romagna, Hamilton argued his comments were not symptoms of a strained relationship, and that sometimes frustration emerges during a high-intensity race.

Indeed, F1 fans have become familiar with Max Verstappen’s X-rated rants towards his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase throughout his Red Bull career, but the pair’s friendship remains solid outside of the cockpit.

Hamilton later admitted in Imola that his communication with Adami had improved and hailed his race engineer for the recent result, perhaps a sign of better things to come between the pair.

Ferrari surprised the paddock and even their own driver duo in Monaco on Friday ahead of this weekend's race at the Monte Carlo circuit with Hamilton's team-mate Charles Leclerc topping the timesheets in both FP1 and FP2.

Neither Leclerc nor Hamilton appeared overly optimistic of their chances of a grand prix win in Monaco ahead of the on-track action but so far the scarlet pair have proved themselves as potential contenders for Saturday's vital qualifying and Sunday's main event.

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Red Bull Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes Monaco Grand Prix 2025 season