Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur conceded the team needed to find the best way to communicate after Lewis Hamilton struggled to be on the same page with his new race engineer.

A number of radio messages broadcast reflected Hamilton’s frustration with race engineer Riccardo Adami as the Australian GP race went on.

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Having worked with Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington for 12 years, Hamilton was always likely to experience an awkward stage with his new engineer as they look to build the same level of connection.

Adami, an experienced engineer himself who worked with Sebastian Vettel at Toro Rosso and Ferrari, clashed with Hamilton during the course of the race.

A particularly tense exchange came when Adami tried to remind Hamilton to use the K1 button which helps with overtaking.

Adami: “You can use K1 when you are close.”

Hamilton: “Leave me to it, please.”

Adami: “K1 available.”

Hamilton: “Yes, I know. Leave me to it, please. Please leave it! Just leave me to it with the DRS. It’s not an issue.”

Adami: “Try to hold the K1. Just for practice. I know it’s difficult.”

Hamilton: “I’m not close enough! I’m not close enough. When I’m close, I’ll do it.”

After the race was run, team boss Vasseur admitted there was room for improvement with the team’s communication.

“It was the first race, the first time that we communicate between the people in the car,” Vasseur, who first worked with Hamilton in 2005, said. “We can do a better job.

“I think that this weekend was quite extreme for different reasons, the fact that it is not a permanent track, the fact that the grip is changing a lot, the fact that together with these conditions I think it’s probably the one of the most difficult weekends to manage.

“For sure, it was quite a shock, but it was not the right weekend from us. Next week we’ll have to learn a lot from this weekend, because we made mistakes.”

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Hamilton seemed to take issue with the level of information being given to him, something Charles Leclerc has struggled with under previous engineer Xavier Marcos Padros, and Vasseur said they need to work together to find the right balance.

“It was not the issue of Lewis, it was the issue of the team. We need to find the level of communication between the team, the drivers and engineers.”

Despite this frustration, Hamilton praised Adami for a “good job” in their first race together.

“I think Riccardo did a really good job,” he said. “We’re learning about each other bit by bit. We just need to… after this, we’ll download, we’ll go through all the comments, things I said, and vice versa.

“And generally, I’m not one that likes a lot of information in the race. Unless I need it, I’ll ask for it. But he did his best today.”

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