Lewis Hamilton Finding His Feet With Italian Phrases

Lewis Hamilton’s acclimatisation to Ferrari has brought a fresh challenge—mastering a new racing vocabulary as he trades Mercedes’ familiar calls for Maranello’s Italian flair.

The seven-time world champion, famed for Peter Bonnington’s “Hammer Time” radio cue, parted ways with “Bono”—now paired with rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli—joining forces with Riccardo Adami, ex-engineer to Vettel and Sainz. At Bahrain testing, Hamilton told reporters: “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.”

The record-breaking driver, with 105 wins, is diving into Ferrari’s technical jargon. “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.”

Beyond the cockpit, Hamilton’s tackling Italian, chatting in basic phrases with factory staff and 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.