Lewis Hamilton goals pointed swipe at Max Verstappen as Ferrari star speaks out on tense radio exchanges with new engineer at Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton drew a pointed comparison to old rival Max Verstappen when defending radio exchanges with his engineer during a disappointing Ferrari debut. 

The 40-year-old described the reaction to his communications with Riccardo Adami as ‘over-egged’, following criticism from the likes of Martin Brundle and former Williams manager Peter Windsor. 

Hamilton’s career with the Scuderia got off to a difficult start in Melbourne as he finished 10th out of the 14 finishers and took home a solitary point. 

It was a disappointing weekend overall for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc only coming home in eighth to leave them seventh in the Constructors’ Championship standings. He and Leclerc had been running 1-2 at one stage after gambling to stay out on slick tyres as a second shower of rain fell late in the race, but they struggled for grip and were eventually punished.

And his race was defined by some tetchy encounters with Adami, whose advice he batted away as he tried to find a way past Williams star Alex Albon.

On Thursday, ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, the 40-year-old defended his actions and suggested communication issues can arise in a fledgling relationship such as theirs. 

Lewis Hamilton believes the reaction to his team radio calls with engineer Riccardo Adami have been over-egged

The seven-time world champion came in for some criticism for the way he interacted with Adami in Melbourne

Max Verstappen’s often combative interactions Gianpiero Lambiase came in for scrutiny at the 2023 Belgian GP

‘I mean, naturally, everyone over-egged. It was literally just a back-and-forth,’ said Hamilton. ‘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.’

Hamilton didn’t miss the opportunity to take a swipe at his old rival Verstappen, who he claimed is far more aggressive when interacting with his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

‘Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers, far worse,’ he added. ‘But unfortunately, you [the media] make… the conversation that Max has with an engineer over the years, the abuse that the poor guy’s taken and you never write about it, but you wrote about the smallest little discussion I had with mine.’ 

Verstappen’s often combative interactions Lambiase came in for scrutiny at the 2023 Belgian GP. The world champion brushed off his ’emotional’ team radio during qualifying and claimed the pair always resolve their issues.