Hamilton’s fresh challenge: learning new racing lingo at Ferrari

Red Bull Racing/Red Bull Content Pool

Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, is navigating a fresh learning curve as he settles into his new role with Ferrari. The British driver has had to leave behind the iconic “Hammer Time” radio call from his Mercedes days, as he dives into the unique racing vernacular of the Maranello-based team.

For years, the “Hammer Time” call from Hamilton’s Mercedes race engineer, Peter Bonnington, became synonymous with the champion’s aggressive push on track. However, this dynamic duo parted ways when Hamilton moved to Ferrari, with Bonnington now guiding Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

In place of Bonnington, Riccardo Adami, a seasoned engineer who previously worked with Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz, now holds the crucial role of engineer for Hamilton. During pre-season testing in Bahrain, Hamilton humorously acknowledged the challenge of creating a new battle cry with Adami. “I don't know how it would sound with an Italian accent. So I have to find an Italian word, probably. We'll probably find something new, yeah,” Hamilton noted.

As the most successful driver in the history of Formula 1, with a staggering 105 race wins, Hamilton is no stranger to adapting to new environments. He detailed the process of learning unfamiliar terminology for various car components and settings in discussions with Ferrari’s mechanics and engineers.

Hamilton’s fresh challenge: Lewis 'Luigi' Hamilton learning new racing lingo at Ferrari.

"I'm still in the learning phase of understanding the rear suspension, the front suspension, all the different settings that they have for those and the terminology that they use for them as well," Hamilton explained. This process also includes adapting communication methods with Adami to optimize performance feedback and instruction exchange. "Roll is still roll, anti-roll bar is still anti-roll bar, but it's some of the other parts of the geometry which there's just different words for. So I've got it all on my computer and I'm studying it each day and night to make sure I understand when they're talking about these different components," he added.

This transition marks Hamilton’s first foray into driving for a non-British team since his debut with McLaren in 2007. While English has been the lingua franca of Formula 1, Hamilton is embracing the challenge of learning Italian, often practicing simple sentences with factory employees and during media interactions.

Adding a touch of humor to the serious business of racing, Italian-born U.S. racing legend Mario Andretti, the 1978 world champion, proposed a new nickname for Hamilton. "I'm going to call him Luigi from now on," Andretti quipped to motorsport.com.

The nickname and new environment highlight a period of refreshing change for Hamilton as he embarks on this next chapter with Ferrari.

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