Lewis Hamilton issues ‘relationship’ update ahead of Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton issues ‘relationship’ update ahead of Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton's latest exchange from Monaco made waves

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 29 May 2025 22:57

Lewis Hamilton has issued a relationship update after an exchange went viral from the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend.

The seven-time world champion’s Ferrari move has not gone to plan so far in 2025, with Hamilton only having a sprint race win and a best grand prix result of P4 to show for his switch.

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Not only has Ferrari’s poor pace been the subject of headlines, but so has Hamilton’s relationship with his new race engineer Riccardo Adami after a series of tense team radio messages.

There are several that have caught the attention of the fans and media alike, particularly Hamilton’s ‘take a tea break’ comments in Miami, and their recent exchange in Monaco where the champion asked if Adami was ‘upset’ with him, only to be met with silence.

Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton has addressed criticism over his relationship with Adami and clarified once and for all where their relationship stands.

"Our relationship is great. No problems. We're constantly learning more and more about each other," Hamilton said to the media on Thursday at the Spanish GP.

"We're constantly adapting to the way both of us like to work. He's worked with lots of different drivers before. We don't have any problems whatsoever."

Should Lewis Hamilton replace his Ferrari race engineer?

Regardless of Hamilton’s comments, his miscommunication with Adami has often translated onto issues on the track, especially at the Miami GP when trying to orchestrate a switch between himself and team-mate Charles Leclerc.

In Monaco, Hamilton also picked up a penalty in qualifying because Adami failed to relay the correct information about Max Verstappen's lap, with their communication problems actually impacting Ferrari's results.

Whether this is down to the language barrier between the two or a personality issue is difficult to say, but the relationship between a race engineer and a driver is crucial. It also leads to the question: should Hamilton consider a change?

His clear and often friendly communication between Peter Bonnington at Mercedes was the soundtrack to Hamilton’s world title success, and it's hard not to feel bad for the champion when you see how compatible Bonnington and Kimi Antonelli already are this year.

Verstappen on the other hand, has an often snappy and abrupt dialogue with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase; but the pair have also enjoyed four world drivers’ together so their method of communication clearly works at Red Bull.

Whilst often frustrated, Hamilton’s communication with Adami feels different to Verstappen's, as if he does not quite trust Adami yet - particularly evident in his wounded sounding ‘are you upset with me?'

Should Hamilton perhaps ask for an engineer he can connect better with? Or would another Italian Ferrari engineer just result in the same miscommunication as with Adami?

Surely then, Hamilton would be better simply sticking with Adami and letting a connection develop over time.

Or, is Hamilton always going to regret the fact that Bonnington did not follow him to Ferrari?

Should Hamilton persevere with Adami? Let us know in our interactive poll below!