‘Feeling lost’ – More Lewis Hamilton team radio messages emerge from Monaco GP
More unflattering team radio messages between Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami have surfaced following last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s familiar F1 2025 frustrations returned in Monaco last weekend as the seven-time World Champion finished a distant fifth, more than 51 seconds behind the race-winning McLaren of Lando Norris.
More Lewis Hamilton team radio messages discovered after Monaco GPThe seven-time World Champion recovered from a crash in final practice to set the fourth-fastest time in qualifying, but was hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen.
Forced to start behind Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso, Hamilton was cut adrift from the lead battle with Ferrari boss team principal Fred Vasseur telling media including PlanetF1.com that he also lost around 10 seconds – considerably more than his rivals – while negotiating lapped traffic.
Hamilton’s relationship with his new Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami has been under close scrutiny since the start of the season following a stream of awkward interactions between the pair over team radio.
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The situation arguably slumped to a new low in Monte Carlo, where Hamilton once again expressed his irritation with the pit wall’s communication.
As reported by PlanetF1.com, Hamilton was believed to have been confused by Adami’s comment that “this is our race” in the early stages of the Monaco GP, with the seven-time World Champion under the impression that he was in the fight for victory.
However, it is thought that Adami actually meant that Hamilton would not be deployed to assist team-mate Charles Leclerc’s victory hopes and was therefore free to run his own race.
Hamilton was also heard telling Adami that he was “not answering the question” he posed on Lap 74 when he asked if the leading quartet of Norris, Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Verstappen were still a minute ahead of him.
Hamilton has also been criticised for his remark on the cooldown lap at the end of the race when he asked Adami: “Are you upset with me or something?”
Adami did not reply to his driver on that occasion, although it is possible that the race engineer may have already disconnected himself from Ferrari’s internal communications system and was therefore not aware of Hamilton’s query until it was too late.
Ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, a further flurry of team radio messages from Monaco have emerged to reveal how Hamilton lost his patience with Adami as the race developed.
PlanetF1.com can reveal that Hamilton was calling for “some more information” from the pit wall as early as Lap 21 of 78.
The full exchange went as follows:
Adami: “Look after the traction.”
Hamilton: “What sort of pace do you need from me? Give me some more information. Like, am I saving tyres right now or you like to close and push as hard as possible?”
Adami: “15.2 target lap time.”
Two laps later, on Lap 23, Hamilton is heard checking in with his race engineer for an update.
Hamilton: “How is the pace?”
Adami: “Verstappen in P1 stayed out, 15.2. And Charles is out lap, give you lap times. And Piastri ahead on hards, 17.8. Managing.”
Hamilton still appeared to be confused with what Ferrari were asking from him on Lap 24 and called for more clarification.
Adami: “And mind front saturation low-speed corners. Diff Mid 3 might help.”
Hamilton: “Yeah, just trying to understand what pace you want me to do.”
Adami: “Fighting Verstappen, target lap time 14.7 if you can.”
Hamilton: “Understood.”
Verstappen, who eventually finished one place ahead of Hamilton in fourth, made his first pit stop of the race on Lap 28, 10 laps later than Hamilton.
Returning to the airwaves on Lap 36, Hamilton appeared to express surprise that Verstappen was not the car directly in front of him on track at that stage.
Hamilton: “Is that Verstappen ahead?”
Adami: “He’s 9.3 ahead.”
Hamilton: “Oh, damn. OK. I thought he came out just ahead of me.”
Hamilton began to get exasperated with his situation between Laps 45 and 48 when the following series of messages were exchanged:
Hamilton: “I really don’t know where I am and I’m 15 seconds behind?”
Adami: “Yeah, let’s keep going with this pace. Can improve two tenths on a 14.5, would be ideal. Let’s wait and see.”
Hamilton: “It’s really not helping, mate! I’m struggling with the car, I don’t know… are all the cars ahead of me doing a 14.9?”
Adami: “Yes, pretty much. Norris is 14.5.”
Although Verstappen ultimately finished fourth, Red Bull’s strategy to keep him out in the event of a red flag stoppage, which would have gifted him a free tyre change and secured an unlikely victory, saw him lead much of the second half of the race.
Hamilton did not appear to be aware of Verstappen’s situation when Adami offered his next significant update across Laps 55 and 56.
Adami: “Verstappen race leader is 22 ahead. His lap time: 15.6.”
Hamilton: “Yeah, where is everyone else?”
Adami: “It’s Piastri 10 seconds ahead of you.”
Hamilton: “Well, why the hell you give me Verstappen’s stint, mate?”
Adami: “Just to know race situation.”
More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari from PlanetF1.comHamilton made the last of his two mandatory pit stops on Lap 56, with the seven-time World Champion admitting to feeling “lost” with the “sporadic” updates from the pit wall as he trundled down the pit lane.
Hamilton: “Yeah, mate. Just feeling a little bit lost out there. Just, you know, it’s very sporadic info.”
Adami: “Understood.”
Adami: “And we are in free air now til the end.”
Hamilton: “OK. Where is everyone, so I know? Don’t need to know where Verstappen is. Like, who’s ahead of me and who’s behind? What position am I in?”
Adami: “We are a net P5. Piastri is 30 seconds ahead.”
Hamilton: “Has he stopped twice?”
Adami: “Yeah, correct. And no threat from behind.”
Hamilton: “So I can bring these tyres in slow?”
Adami: “Yes, you can.”
With 10 laps remaining on Lap 68, the true extent of Hamilton’s gap to the leading quartet dawns on him.
Hamilton: “Have I been dead slow this whole race?”
Adami did not respond to Hamilton’s concerns directly, instead replying: “And switch red. And three more [lapped cars] ahead of Colapinto and you are in free air.”
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