Lewis Hamilton shared a heartwarming moment with race engineer Riccardo Adami after sprint qualifying in Shanghai, giggling throughout his radio message after clinching pole for Saturday’s race. The Brit fended off a late charge from Max Verstappen, while McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris failed to deliver on the promise that they showed earlier in sprint qualifying.
After finishing the session, race engineer Adami jumped on the radio to announce the Brit’s pole. Hamilton was taken off guard and questioned the comment. When his P1 grid slot was confirmed, he started giggling with surprise, prompting Adami to do the same.
After the session, Hamilton’s surprise was hard to hide. « I’m just a bit gobsmacked, taken back by it, » he confessed. « I didn’t know when we would get to this position. After last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week.
« We came here with aggression and wanting to go into the weekend and get the car into a great place. I started out straight away with a better feeling in the car.
« I can’t believe we are at the front, ahead of a McLaren which has been so fast throughout winter testing, Australia and even today. I’m really grateful to be up there with these great drivers and be so close to all these other teams. »
This was a sweet moment for Hamilton and Adami, who were placed under the microscope after their first race together at the Australian Grand Prix last weekend. The Brit regularly requested a slower flow of information and became frustrated with his partner’s regular attempts to coach from the pit wall.
« Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers – far worse, » Hamilton said on Thursday when asked about the debate. « 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.
« Ultimately, we’re literally just getting to know each other, so afterwards I’m like: ‘Hey bro, I don’t need that bit of information but if you want to give me this, this is the place I’d like to do it. This is how I’m feeling in the car and, at these points, this is when I do and don’t need the information.’ That’s what it’s about. There are no issues, it’s done with a smiley face and we move forwards. »
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