Lewis Hamilton has ruled out swapping the iconic “Hammer Time” hurry-up message said by Peter Bonnington for over a decade for “tempo di Martello” as it just wouldn’t sound right.
Last season Formula 1 fans heard ‘Bono’ telling Hamilton that it is “Hammer Time” for the very last time at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton’s last race with Mercedes.
There’s no ‘tempo di martello’ in Lewis Hamilton’s future
Saying farewell to not only the team but also his long-time race engineer, Hamilton admitted that it was a bitter-sweet moment when he realised that was the last ‘Hammer Time’ he would hear.
“I noticed that today,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com after the Yas Marina race. “When he told me, I was like I can’t even remember the last time he told me ‘hammer time’.
“I remember I told Bono to say ‘hammer time’ back in the first year together. I was like, ‘Don’t just tell me to go faster, tell me it’s ‘hammer time’ and I know what it is’.
“What a rollercoaster ride I’ve had with Bono. He’s been one of my closest friends for many years.
“It’s something I didn’t expect to have because he worked with Michael Schumacher—he’s worked with great drivers and for the longest time he’s stood by me.
“For an engineer to stick by someone, as frustrating and painful as it can sometimes be — he’s stood by me every single day without fail.”
But with Hamilton off to Ferrari and Bono extending with Mercedes, it is no longer the English engineer who is the voice in Hamilton’s ear. Instead, he will be listening to Riccardo Adami in his first season with Ferrari.
The Italian, who was Carlos Sainz’s race engineer, has been entrusted to guide Hamilton as he adjusts to life as a Ferrari Formula 1 driver.
But one thing he won’t be doing is saying ‘Hammer Time’ or even the Italian equivalent.
Hamilton was asked about this during pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit where the Briton spent one-and-a-half days out on track working with Adami having already had the opportunity to get to know him during his TPC runs.
“I haven’t spoken to my engineer about that,” Hamilton admitted. “I don’t know how it would sound with an Italian accent, so I’ll have to find an Italian word, probably.
“We’ll probably find something new.”
But finding an Italian word to replace his iconic ‘Hammer Time’ isn’t the only thing Hamilton will have to learn in Italian.
Having already delivered a short speech to his new team members in Maranello last month, Hamilton is learning many of the technical words that will make it easier and quicker to communicate with his side of the garage.
“I’m in the learning phase of understanding the rear suspension, the front suspension, all the different settings they have for those and the terminology they use for them,” he said as per Reuters.
“My engineer and I are also learning how we like to work in terms of communication. After every session, every time I go out basically we’re making adjustments to the information I give him and vice versa.
“Roll is still roll, anti-roll bar is still anti-roll bar, but it’s some other parts of the geometry which there are different words for.
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“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 the different components.
“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.”
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