Tempo di martello? Hamilton learning new lingo at Ferrari

Reuters

28-02-2025

SAKHIR, Bahrain, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton has had to learn a new racing language as he settles in at Ferrari and it sounds like 'Hammer Time' is history.
The decisive radio call to action from Mercedes race engineer Peter Bonnington became part of the fabric of Formula One but the partnership ended when the seven times world champion moved to Maranello.
'Bono' is now with Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Hamilton's teenage replacement, while Italian Riccardo Adami, who previously engineered Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz, has teamed up with the Briton.
Hamilton told reporters at pre-season testing in Bahrain that he had yet to broach the subject of 'Hammer Time' 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," he said.
The sport's most successful driver of all time, with a record 105 race wins, has also had to learn new terms for familiar objects in his discussions with mechanics and engineers.
"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," he explained.
"My engineer and I are also learning how we both like to work in terms of communication. So after every session, every time I go out basically... we're making adjustments to the information that I give him and vice versa.
"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."
After driving for British-based teams since his debut with McLaren in 2007, and English being the common language of Formula One, Hamilton has had to study.
He is learning Italian, going so far already as expressing himself in simple sentences to employees at the factory and with the media.
"It's a part of the learning process and that's what makes it exciting, because it's all new. I'm loving that newness," he said.
Italian-born U.S. great Mario Andretti, the 1978 world champion who also drove for Ferrari in his career, suggested a new nickname.
"I'm going to call him Luigi from now on," he told motorsport.com.