"Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer needs to go": Fans react to the Ferrari driver's engineer potentially costing the driver a 3-place penalty

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is at risk of receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen in Q1 of the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying round. Hamilton apparently received wrong information from his race engineer, Riccardo Adami, and fans have come down heavily on the latter on social media.

The qualifying round of the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix got underway on May 24. In Q1, Kimi Antonelli crashed, resulting in an early red flag. Verstappen, meanwhile, escaped a narrow risk as his final flying lap was disrupted by Hamilton.

He was pushing the throttle but had to abort the lap due to obstruction from Hamilton. The Dutchman was fuming and accused the Brit of impeding. Moreover, the stewards have noted the incident, and it is subject to investigation. According to rumors, if found guilty, the Ferrari could face a three-place grid penalty.

Interestingly, Lewis Hamilton's race engineer, Riccardo Adami, seemingly provided false information to the driver. He said Max Verstappen was on a slow lap behind him, and hence, the 40-year-old didn't get out of the way.

deni

@fiagirly

🚨 Hamilton under investigation for impeding Verstappen during a lap in Q1.

📻 | Adami: “Verstappen pushing 3 seconds, sorry he’s slowing down.”

📻 | Lewis Hamilton: “You said he was slowing down, man. For fuck sake! Did he slow down?”

Meanwhile, on social media platform Threads, some Hamilton fans slammed Adami for the miscommunication and even called for his sacking.

"So Lewis might be getting a three-grid penalty for impeding Max thanks to his race engineer’s miscommunication. He told Lewis that Max was on a slow lap, so Lewis stayed on the racing line. Ngl, Lewis’s race engineer needs to go," a fan said.

Fan comment on Hamilton's impeding incident [Image Source: @averynumnum/Threads]

"Nah, Ferrari can't leave their strategy behind, not even in Monaco," another fan said.

Fan comment on Hamilton's impeding incident [Image Source: @safwan_tasveee_3/Threads]

"I'm not a big fan of Ricky. It didn't go so well with Seb either," a user commented.

Fan comment on Hamilton's impeding incident [Image Source: @ishaank_khatana/Threads]

A fan claimed that a penalty was inevitable for Hamilton.

"Damn it, the stewards will definitely give a penalty because it’s Lewis," another user on X said.

"They NEED to fire his stupid pasta engineer. Absolutely AWFUL!" the comment read.

"They are ruining his weekend all the time," a fan also said.

Despite the chaos, Hamilton qualified P4, a position ahead of Verstappen (P5).

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Max Verstappen reacts to impeding incident with Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton with Max Verstappen at F1 Grand Prix of Monaco - Qualifying - Source: Getty

After the qualifying session concluded, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were involved in a chat and cleared misunderstandings over the impeding incident. Moreover, while speaking to media, the Red Bull driver admitted that Hamilton wasn't at fault.

“I saw immediately that the team told him I was on a slow lap when I was on a fast lap. It’s not Lewis’ fault. I already spoke to him about it. It’s the team’s mistake," Verstappen said via @fiagirly on X.

The stewards have summoned both Verstappen and Hamilton for an investigation. Red Bull will likely push for a penalty as Max has qualified a position behind Lewis. A grid penalty to Hamilton would benefit Verstappen heavily in the main race scheduled for May 25.