F1 legend Lewis Hamilton 'miserable' after Ferrari communication breakdown

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton 'miserable' after Ferrari communication breakdown

Lewis Hamilton suffered a difficult Monaco GP

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 27 May 2025 21:08

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Lewis Hamilton has described his driving experience in the Ferrari at last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix as 'miserable' following another difficult race in red.

The seven-time world champion managed to fight his way back from seventh into fifth having been given a three-place grid penalty after qualifying, but once he was comfortably in P5 he struggled to make any kind of impression on the top four cars.

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Whilst team-mate Charles Leclerc managed to secure second in Sunday's race, Hamilton finished almost 50 seconds behind his team-mate, and came a distant fifth.

At the end of the race, Hamilton asked race engineer Riccardo Adami, 'are you angry with me?', to which the Italian did not provide an answer over team radio.

The incident was just another of many difficult race communications between the two Ferrari colleagues this season as the duo are still clearly adjusting to their working relationship.

On top of his Ferrari silent treatment in Monaco, Hamilton also confirmed he did not understand a message from his new race engineer during Sunday's race, after Adami told him to pick up the pace.

Following their eighth grand prix as colleagues, Hamilton told media: "From where I was, with the three-place penalty, I think moving forwards back to 5th I think was decent. It was the best I could do.

"[Driving] was miserable. Unless you’re in the lead, even when you’re in the lead it’s not that fun, just a nice reward at the end. Other than that, anything but first is kind of empty."

In another post-race interview, the seven-time champion said: "The information wasn’t exactly that clear. I didn’t understand 'this is our race'.

"I didn’t know what I was fighting for. Am I fighting for the next spot ahead, or? But in actual fact when I look at the data I was nowhere near any of the guys up front."

"I used up my tyres a lot in that moment but I was so far away from them."

Hamilton baffled by lack of pace

Hamilton's downbeat attitude at the end of the race in Monte Carlo was in complete contrast to his beaming smile at the end of the previous week's Imola GP, where he managed to put his Ferrari in fourth, just over a second off a podium finish.

That was the best grand prix result of his Ferrari career to date, with the Brit having struggled to get to grips with his new team and the SF-25 car on most of his competitive outings in 2025.

The F1 legend was brought into the Ferrari fold in order to try and help the iconic team win their first championship of any kind since 2008.

However, the 40-year-old still sits down in sixth in the drivers' championship on 63 points, after eight grands prix weekends with his new team, with neither championship within touching distance after the opening stages of the campaign.