Lewis Hamilton continues to work on his relationship with new Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami. Hamilton spent 12 years with Peter Bonnington at Mercedes, but now he has a brand-new voice in his ear.
Hamilton was annoyed with the media for their coverage of his radio communications on his Australia debut. He felt that the tense exchanges with Adami had been used to create a misleading picture of a rift.
The 40-year-old went to win the Sprint at the following race in China, but his weekend in Japan was more difficult. After qualifying a disappointing P8, he was only able to gain one position in the race.
At one point, the F1 broadcast team played an impatient radio message from Hamilton, who said ‘I’d really like some info [about] where I’m slow’. Adami is still learning about how much support the seven-time world champion needs in the cockpit.
Lewis Hamilton frustrated that Ferrari pit board didn’t show the gap ahead
After clearing Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls early on, Hamilton set about chasing Kimi Antonelli. He was an outlier in the top 10 after choosing the hard tyres for his first stint.
That theoretically gave him an advantage later in the race, when he’d be on the faster mediums. But while he closed up on Antonelli shortly after the Mercedes driver pitted, he progressively fell back.
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In one unbroadcast radio message on lap 49 out of 53, Hamilton asked: “What’s the gaps, man, there’s nothing on my pit board?”
Adami responded that the deficit was eight seconds, and the 105-time race-winner radioed in a lap later to admit he simply didn’t have ‘the pace’. Still, in future, he wants Ferrari to display more information on the board, which he passes on every trip down the start/finish straight.
Ferrari were surprised Lewis Hamilton couldn’t do one thing at Japanese Grand Prix
With the DRS-assisted move on Hadjar complete, Hamilton was urged to ‘catch on Antonelli’. Clearly, Ferrari thought they had the pace to beat the rookie.
However, he eventually finished more than 10 seconds adrift. It was alarming to see the Italian scamper away on slower rubber in the second half of the race.
This may be confirmation that Mercedes have a faster car right now – Antonelli and George Russell both finished within three seconds of Charles Leclerc – and it’s also worth noting that limited tyre management was required at Suzuka.
Ferrari’s car has a narrow working window – the same issue that plagued Hamilton at Brackley last year. If he was moving for 2025 alone, his decision would be looking questionable, but time is still on his side.
