Lewis Hamilton has refused to apologise for his heated radio exchanges during the Miami Grand Prix, as Italian media highlight ongoing struggles in his integration with Ferrari and race engineer Riccardo Adami.
The seven-time world champion, accustomed to Mercedes-powered cars throughout his illustrious career, is visibly grappling with Ferrari's 2025 machinery.
His challenges also extend to communication, with repeated clashes in 2025 with Adami, previously race engineer to Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz. "The understanding between Hamilton and Adami remains elusive," reported La Repubblica.
"Since the first Sunday in Melbourne, there has been a lot of friction and tension."
Adding to the narrative, Hamilton posted on social media in Miami about his former Mercedes race engineer, Peter Bonnington, now working with Kimi Antonelli. "I saw the video of Bono and Kimi and Toto (Wolff)," the 40-year-old said, "and it genuinely just brought warmth to my heart. Bono is just the best."
La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Arianna Ravelli described the Hamilton-Ferrari-Adami dynamic as "not very balanced," arguing, "The Englishman needed Ferrari more. Given his age, Ferrari's vision can only be described as short-term. How beautiful would it have been to dream of a new Kimi in red?"
Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann, when asked about missing out on teenage talent Antonelli, jokingly quipped, "Perhaps when he's 40."
Ravelli also turned scrutiny on team principal Frederic Vasseur's leadership, questioning, "What went wrong? After the (Mattia) Binotto era, the mantra at Maranello was 'Let Vasseur cook'. So was it the wrong ingredients or does the chef need to brush up on Masterchef?"
Defending his Miami radio outbursts, Hamilton remained defiant. "I still have the fire in me and I'm not going to apologise for being a fighter," he said. "I'm not going to apologise for wanting to win."
