Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton faces pressure to replace Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami after tense radio silence, says Montoya.
Following renewed radio tension with Riccardo Adami, Juan Pablo Montoya has urged Lewis Hamilton to “get angry” and demand a new race engineer.
Having moved from Mercedes to Ferrari during the off-season and said goodbye to his long-time race engineer Peter Bonnington, Hamilton is now working with Adami in his debut season with Ferrari.
The adjustment period has been challenging. Radio communications between Hamilton and Adami have made headlines, with the pair not shying away from tense exchanges that have been aired publicly.
Hamilton has denied any friction: “We have no issues. There’s a lot of speculation. Most of it is bullshit.”
“At the end of the day, we have a great relationship. It’s great working with him. He’s a great guy, he works very hard, we both do, and we don’t always get things right every weekend.”
“Do we have disagreements? Like anyone in a relationship, but we work through them. We’re both in the same boat.”
However, further issues arose in Spain, where Hamilton reported a gearshift problem that was later resolved. Adami asked him to return to the pits at the end of the session, but he refused and remained on track to practice starts.
Montoya believes it is time for Hamilton to request a new race engineer.
“I don’t think I know everything. These kinds of disagreements happen often, but at some point, Lewis will have to get angry and ask for a change of engineer.”
“And that’s exactly what Lewis needs at this stage, because the attitude of an engineer who sometimes doesn’t answer on the radio… you need to be more professional than that, and such a person is not healthy for him, for the team, or for anyone really.”
“If I were in charge at Ferrari, I would have pulled Adami up and said: ‘You’re doing it again, and you’ll be working at a desk, because we’re not interested in that kind of behavior.’”
“There are tense exchanges between Verstappen and his race engineer. But they respect each other and they always respond. Not responding is the worst thing for a driver.”