Revealed: What Lewis Hamilton ‘San Diego’ codeword meant
The 'San Diego' codeword used by Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari race engineer has been explained.
The meaning behind Lewis Hamilton’s ‘San Diego’ codeword at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix has been revealed.
After Hamilton claimed his first pole position for Ferrari in the China sprint race, fans were left baffled when new race engineer Riccardo Adami used a codeword to confirm the result.
The seven-time world champion pipped former F1 title rival Max Verstappen to pole by just 0.018s as he topped a qualifying session for the first time since making his blockbuster switch from Mercedes to Ferrari.
Hamilton asked: “Where are we?”, to which Adami replied: “that’s San Diego.”
A laughing Hamilton responded: "Really? Yes!", before Adami added: "Good job in San Diego, San Diego!”
The exact meaning behind the phrase left many puzzled and it was not addressed over the remainder of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.
However, Sky Sports F1’s pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz has revealed that it was a reference from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
Ron Burgundy (played by Will Ferrell) is the anchorman for the fictional KVWN channel 4 local television station based in San Diego.
“You stay classy, San Diego,” is the signature phrase used by Burgundy to sign off his news bulletins.
“The ‘stay classy’ reference. It was an Anchorman reference,” Kravitz explained on the F1 Show.
“It wasn’t to do with the pilgrimage, as Kamal the German Sky Sports monitor man, who thought Santiago was a reference to the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela, and how Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari were on some sort of pilgrimage together.
“It wasn’t that! It turns out it was a Will Ferrell Anchorman reference.”
Lewis Hamilton’s sprint victory a ‘critical moment’
Hamilton went on to convert the pole into a commanding victory in the Shanghai sprint race on Saturday morning.
Ferrari’s weekend went downhill from there, with the team struggling to replicate their previous competitiveness in regular grand prix qualifying.
Charles Leclerc and Hamilton finished fifth and sixth in Sunday’s grand prix but were both disqualified for separate technical infringements following post-race checks.
But Kravitz felt the significance of Hamilton’s breakthrough Ferrari win was overlooked during the weekend.
“I thought it was a critical moment,” Kravitz said.
“You know how I like to overplay things, but I thought it was a breakthrough, I really did.
“I thought it was a very significant moment and in a way I don’t like all this ‘it’s only a sprint race’, and his celebrations were a bit muted as well weren’t they.
“I was like ‘come on!’ I know it’s just a sprint race but buy into it! It’s an important moment.”
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