Ferrari ignore Lewis Hamilton in awkward exchange

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari ignore Lewis Hamilton in awkward exchange

Lewis Hamilton's 2025 season came to a miserable end

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 9 December 2025 15:00 Updated: 16:19

Lewis Hamilton’s sign-off for the 2025 Formula 1 season went completely unacknowledged by the Ferrari camp in Abu Dhabi.

For the first time, Hamilton ends a season without a single podium to his name, his best result being fourth place in a grand prix, along with an early-season sprint victory in China.

His campaign concluded with a demoralizing run of Q1 eliminations in Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. At Yas Marina, he was forced into yet another fightback, converting a P16 starting position into an eventual eighth-place finish.

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In contrast, Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc coaxed a much stronger performance out of his Ferrari, climbing into the top four in the early laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Nevertheless, the 40-year-old attempted to sign off the season with positivity, issuing a message of gratitude to his Ferrari team and race engineer Riccardo Adami via team radio.

Hamilton aired by Adami

As Hamilton completed his cool down lap, he said over the airwaves: “Long season, guys. Grazie a tutti. Thank you for your kindness. I'm grateful for all the hard work. I'll always fight for you guys. Always. Grazie."

Hamilton was left hanging for nearly a minute, and several corners, before he tried again and asked Adami: “Did you get that message? The one time you don’t reply.”

In short? Painfully awkward.

Adami then immediately responded with a nervous chuckle, and said: “Yeah we got it. Sorry we were talking. Thank you very much, it was awesome working with you. Grazie Mille.”

In fairness to Adami, the race engineer congratulated Hamilton on his comeback prior to the champion’s initial message, and said after the race: “P8. It was a pretty good job out there, well done. Very good come back.”

Yet, when Hamilton reflects on his first season at Ferrari, he will undoubtedly pinpoint his poor communication with Adami as a weakness on his side of the garage.

Speaking to the media ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP, Hamilton discussed changes to his own team at Ferrari for 2026, although Adami was not named as part of this reshuffle.

"My surroundings in terms of personal personnel, team personnel, how you utilise people, whether people need to move into different positions to work better, all these different things need to be looked upon in my personal space so that we can optimise our teamwork," Hamilton explained.

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Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Riccardo Adami