Lewis Hamilton and race engineer just not clicking, says F1 pundit
The chemistry between Lewis Hamilton and his race engineer Riccardo Adami seems to be missing, according to Dutch F1 pundit Robert Doornbos.
“There’s just no chemistry between the engineer and the driver,” Doornbos said after analyzing the incident between Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the Mexican GP.
The clash resulted in a ten-second penalty for Hamilton for gaining an advantage.
“The communication between Lewis and Ricky, his engineer, doesn’t feel like they’re switched on to each other,” Doornbos explained.
He pointed to a specific exchange as evidence: “It’s Ricky saying, ‘Yeah, we’ve got a 10-second stop-and-go because of this and this situation.’ Lewis says, ‘Yeah, but it was very difficult to stay on.’ We know Lewis.”
Doornbos believes this disconnect could be hurting Hamilton’s performance.
“I don’t think they’re really on it. If you want to be fighting for wins, championships, and podiums, you have to take every opportunity you can to maximize it.”
## Communication problems obvious to multiple experts
This rocky relationship stands in stark contrast to Hamilton’s legendary partnership with Peter Bonnington. “Bono,” as he’s known in the paddock, formed one of the most iconic driver-engineer pairings in Mercedes’ F1 history with Hamilton.
Karun Chandhok has also noticed the issue.
Commenting on the Verstappen-Hamilton incident, Chandhok criticized Adami for “poor communication,” saying he had “unnecessarily riled up the driver without giving him all of the facts.”
The penalty proved costly for the seven-time world champion. Hamilton had to sit stationary for ten seconds during his pit stop, with no work allowed on the car.
He ultimately finished the race in eighth position, far below where Mercedes hoped he’d finish.
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