Fred Vasseur plays down Hamilton-Adami radio incident: “We’re not having a beer at the pit wall”. Fred Vasseur dismissed any real tension between Lewis Hamilton and engineer Riccardo Adami.

At the end of the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix, Fred Vasseur commented to the media on Ferrari’s performance and some key moments of the Monaco weekend, particularly the radio exchange involving Lewis Hamilton and his race engineer Riccardo Adami.

Lewis Hamilton-Riccardo Adami team radio: no real tension
During the final stages of the race, microphones picked up a seemingly tense moment between Lewis Hamilton and Riccardo Adami. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion, surprised by his engineer’s lack of response, asked over the radio: “Are you upset with me?”, but did not receive an immediate reply. Read more here about the analysis of team radios during the race.

Asked about the incident, Fred Vasseur clarified bluntly: “When a driver asks something between turn 1 and turn 3, you have to wait before replying, otherwise you risk distracting him. We weren’t sleeping or drinking a beer on the pit wall, we had simply agreed in advance to avoid communications in that section.” – the French manager pointed out.

The Ferrari team principal therefore ruled out any kind of tension: “There’s no problem between Lewis [Hamilton, editor’s note] and Riccardo [Adami, editor’s note]. It was just a moment of pressure during the race, nothing more. They cleared it up right afterward.”

After a weekend of harmony in Imola, Monte Carlo seemed like a step backward in the relationship between the seven-time World Champion and his new race engineer on the Ferrari pit wall.

On Saturday, the team radio between Riccardo Adami and Lewis Hamilton in Q1 resulted in a 3-place grid penalty. On Sunday, a lack of clear communication frustrated Lewis Hamilton as he was engaged in one of the toughest races of the season.

“I really didn’t understand what they meant from the pit wall with ‘this is our race’. I didn’t know what I was fighting for,” Lewis Hamilton told Sky Sports in the heat of the moment after the Monaco Grand Prix.