Ferrari missed an opportunity by not hiring Gianpiero Lambiase to work with Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1, according to Tom Clarkson. The presenter of the category’s official press conferences believes the engineer would be the ideal intermediary between the Briton and the Italian team.
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The assessment came after a complicated Belgian GP for Hamilton. Despite recovering to fourth place, the seven-time champion had his race hampered by contact with George Russell on the first lap, received a five-second penalty, questioned the strategy over the radio, and faced a troubled pit stop, which prevented adjustments to the damaged front wing.
Lambiase, Max Verstappen’s race engineer, is set to leave Red Bull to move to McLaren. For Clarkson, Ferrari should have taken advantage of the professional’s availability. “McLaren did very well to hire GP Lambiase. He would be the perfect person at Ferrari, speaks Italian, is a brilliant engineer and completely fluent in English,” he stated on the F1 Nation podcast.
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The commentator also highlighted that Lambiase could better manage communication between Hamilton and the rest of the team. “Imagine if he were the person speaking with Lewis Hamilton and could serve as an intermediary between Lewis’s importance and the rest of the team. I’m really surprised that Ferrari didn’t try to hire him,” he added.
Alex Brundle, however, expressed doubts about the compatibility between the two. The former driver recalled Lambiase’s direct style, who has already reprimanded Verstappen over the radio, and stated that he cannot imagine Hamilton accepting the same treatment. Clarkson disagreed and concluded: “I think GP is smart enough to get the best out of any driver, be it Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton or Lando Norris at McLaren.”
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