Watch : Bono Explains How Lewis Hamilton Came up With ‘Hammertime’ in F1

The Mercedes team recently uploaded a video featuring Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas’ race engineers. Both Peter Bonnington and Riccardo Musconi spoke on various subjects including their wards. Then, ‘Bono’ opened up on one of his most famous messages, “Ok Lewis, It’s Hammertime”.

Whenever every fan hears this message, they all know that Hamilton is now entering Unstoppable Mode. However, Bonnington revealed that the message was merely a bit of fun at the time. Around the time of the message’s birth, there were heavy radio restrictions. However, the FIA granted some leeway for messages of encouragement, so the Mercedes team used it to their advantage.

Bono said, “You can’t just say, push, because, you don’t know how hard, do you want to put a number on it? Let’s just use a different language. So, for an all-out lap it turned out to be Hammertime. Lewis suggested ‘put the hammer down’ but I thought that doesn’t sound right.”

Will Bottas have his own catchphrase like Lewis Hamilton?

Unfortunately, Valtteri Bottas does not have his own code word to trigger his own switch to raw speed. Musconi confessed that he is not sure of what they can brainstorm, but he will certainly think about it.

Meanwhile, Musconi has kept himself occupied during the lockdown by redecorating his entire house. When he got the video call, he still had two rooms left to redo.

Evidently, Riccardo Musconi is joining several of his colleagues who are keeping themselves occupied. Andrew Shovlin built a fence in his backyard, while James Allison built a wardrobe, and now Riki is redecorating his house. He also built a trampoline and fixed his loft along with minor odd jobs.

In a way, it is good that nobody is sitting idle until F1 tentatively resumes in early July in Austria.