“The abuse that the poor guy [Gianpiero Lambiase]’s taken and you never write about it” : Lewis Hamilton aims cheeky dig at Max Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton had a disappointing start to his F1 career with Ferrari, as he finished P10 in his first race in Melbourne. An incorrect strategy pushed Lewis Hamilton down the pecking order, with Charles Leclerc also managing just a P8 finish.
Over the course of the race, Lewis Hamilton was heard having some uncomfortable conversations with his race engineer. The Briton has downplayed any sort of issues between himself and his race engineer, Adami. He believes that the issue has been blown out of proportion, as both of them are still getting used to one another.
He also placed his trust on Adami, who has worked with two world champions in the past. “I mean, naturally, everyone overegged,” Hamilton is quoted as saying by Sky Sports. “It was literally just a back-and-forth. I was very polite in how I had suggested it. I said: ‘leave it to me, please’.
“I wasn’t saying ‘F you’. I wasn’t swearing. So it was just at that point, I was really struggling with the car and I needed full focus on these couple of things. We’re getting to know each other. He’s obviously had two champions or more in the past and there’s no issues between us still.”
“Ultimately, we’re literally just getting to know each other,” he added.
“So afterwards I’m like: ‘hey bro, I don’t need that bit of information but if you want to give me this, this is the place I’d like to do it’. This is how I’m feeling in the car and, at these points, this is when I do and don’t need the information’.
“That’s what it’s about. There are no issues, it’s done with a smiley face and we move forwards.”
Lewis Hamilton draws comparisons to Max Verstappen’s heated exchanges with race engineer
Lewis Hamilton aimed a jibe at Max Verstappen, stating that the Dutchman has had a history of heated conversations with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.
Lewis Hamilton sympathized with Lambiase stating that he has had to deal with way worse radio calls. However, he believes that the media never made it a point when it was related to Max Verstappen. The seven-time world champion was surprised to see the attention his radio calls were getting over the last week.
“Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers, far worse,” Hamilton said.
“But unfortunately, you make… the conversation that Max has with an engineer over the years, the abuse that the poor guy [Gianpiero Lambiase]’s taken and you never write about it, but you wrote about the smallest little discussion I had with mine.”
In a shocking turn of events, Lewis Hamilton finished on pole in the sprint qualifying in China. The Briton just pipped his former rival Max Verstappen by the barest of margins, as the duo will once again start on the front row. This was a great recovery from Ferrari, after their poor start to the season last week in Australia.
