Lewis Hamilton suffering from 'terrible' Ferrari problem after worrying radio messages

Lewis Hamilton's 'terrible' communication with race engineer Riccardo Adami is affecting his results with Ferrari, according to former F1 driver Robert Doornbos. The Dutchman, who competed briefly with Minardi and Red Bull in 2005 and 2006, expressed his sympathy towards the seven-time world champion. Hamilton ended his time with Mercedes with no question over his race pace, but improvement was needed to resolve his qualifying woes.

Unfortunately, since making the switch to Maranello, his difficulties on Saturdays have continued, and his speed on Sundays has paled in comparison to team-mate Charles Leclerc. While this is, to some extent, expected when a driver joins a new team, Hamilton's obvious frustrations combined with the SF-25's unpredictable performance have set up an awkward atmosphere at Ferrari. This has also been obvious in his radio communications with Adami, who previously worked alongside Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel.

Doornbos dug into Hamilton's first 10 races in Ferrari overalls on the Ziggo Sport Race Cafe podcast. "I see a Lewis Hamilton, who hasn't taken a podium in 10 races in Formula One," he said. "That has never happened in his career. I know how it feels. I had 11 races and didn't take a podium either. I feel for that boy.

"I secretly hoped that there was a glimmer of hope that he could become champion at Ferrari. That he would be given the tools and would bend the team to his will. They really have changed a lot in that team, and it's still dramatic."

The 43-year-old continued: "[It had] a great start. The media, the value of the company went up. Everybody loved it, right? But then the performance comes, or the performance doesn't come. The communication with his engineer is terrible. It's like in any marriage, you can have your ups and downs, but there's no up. It was only down."

Hamilton and Adami's relationship was called into question from the outset as the duo navigated some not-unusual teething issues at the season opener in Melbourne. Concerns resurfaced in Monaco after the Brit quizzed: "Are you upset with me or something?"

However, Hamilton has brushed off these concerns emphatically. "There's a lot of speculation," he said in Montreal. "I mean, most of it's BS. Ultimately, we have a great relationship. He's been amazing to work with, he's a great guy, working so hard - we both are - and we don't always get it right every weekend.

"We have disagreements, like everyone does in relationships, but we work through them. We're both in it together, we both want to win a championship together, we're both working towards lifting the team up. So it's just all noise, and we don't really pay any attention to it. So it can continue if you want, but it doesn't make any difference to the job that we're trying to do."