Rob Smedley, the former Ferrari race engineer who worked alongside Felipe Massa, has delivered a pointed critique of delayed responses from the pit wall during races.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Smedley expressed his frustration with engineers who fail to provide immediate answers to drivers, coming after a difficult year for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.
“It pains me when I hear ‘we’ll get back to you.’ This isn’t a call centre,” Smedley stated.
The veteran engineer emphasised that drivers operating at maximum capacity whilst travelling at 200mph require instant support.
Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes for Ferrari last year
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REUTERS
“Answer him and give him confidence,” Smedley urged, warning that hesitant responses which suggest consultation with others “erode trust” and create tension in the working relationship.
His remarks come in the context of Hamilton’s challenging first campaign with the Scuderia, during which communication difficulties became publicly apparent.
The seven-time world champion’s frustration boiled over during one race when he sarcastically told his team to “have a tea break while you’re at it” amid sluggish decision-making over team orders.
“If those kinds of comments are happening on the radio, the relationship isn’t fully formed yet, and that’s where it can become unhealthy. It’s a clear sign that frustrations are boiling over,” Smedley observed.
Lewis Hamilton and Riccardo Adami did not see eye to eye last year | GETTY
Ferrari confirmed in January that Riccardo Adami would be reassigned to coordinate the Ferrari Driver Academy and manage testing of previous cars.
The 50-year-old, who enjoyed considerable success during his tenure at Maranello, drew parallels with other elite sports when discussing the engineer-driver dynamic.
He likened the race engineer’s position to that of a head coach, suggesting the role demands both technical mastery and emotional intelligence.
“It’s really important that you understand how the car works, how the driver interacts with the vehicle, and how you optimise that whole package,” Smedley explained.
However, he cautioned that purely technical competence proves insufficient without recognising the human element.
“But if you don’t understand that there’s a human being in the car – an athlete with all the flaws that we ‘mere mortals’ have – then it’s never going to work.”
Fred Vasseur oversaw a chaotic season for Ferrari
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REUTERSFerrari team principal Fred Vasseur has sought to draw a line under the matter, urging journalists to “please stop with this story.”
The Frenchman insisted that his private conversations with Hamilton painted a rather different picture, describing the British driver’s mindset as “very positive” and “very open to the relationship.”
Vasseur placed the situation in broader context, noting that Formula One teams routinely see half a dozen engineers change positions annually.
“The team today is something like 1,500 people. It’s not about one race engineer,” he remarked, emphasising that success in the sport remains fundamentally a collective endeavour rather than dependent upon individuals.
