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Almost two full seasons into his Ferrari stay, familiar problems continue to plague Lewis Hamilton. It was always going to take time for adjustment, moving from familiar surroundings at Mercedes to a new language, culture and way of working in Italy. But with three races left in their second season together Hamilton and Ferrari are still throwing away points – because they cannot communicate effectively with each other.
Hamilton started at the back in Brazil with Max Verstappen due to engine penalties but he couldn't match the Dutchman's rise to the podium. Ferrari couldn't get their tyres to work when the track was either wet or dry and so Hamilton was never going to compete anyway.
But points were thrown away late on when a fresh shower doused the Interlagos track and it took too long for Ferrari to get Hamilton into the pits for intermediate tyres.
The Brit was told over the radio by race engineer Carlo Santi to "box for inters" – a clear instruction, on the face of it. But Hamilton did not enter the pit lane and replied to Santi shortly afterwards: "You hadn't told me it was raining, I thought I could carry on."
That left him with slick tyres on a wet track for an extra lap, costing him precious time as he slid all over the place. It nearly put him in the wall as his Ferrari spun on approach to the pit lane, the rear wing whacking the barrier. Luckily, the car sustained no serious damage.
Still, he was doomed from that moment to a ninth-placed finish, dropping him to fourth in the drivers' standings. Hamilton again suggested the quality of information given to him at the time was not good enough.
He said: "They didn't say it was raining more in the first half of the lap. If I'd have known that, I would have come in. As soon as I got to turn one, I realised it was wet. So, it just lacked a little bit of information there." He did take responsibility, apologising to the team for failing to follow the instruction to pit.
But it comes back to insufficient communication between the seven-time world champion and a team desperate to bring back their own glory days. It was one of the key difficulties he encountered in a wretched first year with Ferrari. Hamilton was initially paired with vastly experienced race engineer Riccardo Adami, but they never gelled.
Team boss Frederic Vasseur approved his driver's request for personnel changes, including a new race engineer. Santi came in, initially as a temporary solution but the arrangement was made permanent a few races into the season, Hamilton already much happier.
But old issues have since crept back in and we've heard more angry and tense radio exchanges since the summer break. Hamilton's frustration is understandable – he turns 42 in January and knows he is running out of time to make this Ferrari project a success.
But all his past glory came with the ever-dependable Peter 'Bono' Bonnington in his ear at Mercedes. And unless Ferrari can somehow replicate such a fruitful partnership, it will be so much harder for Hamilton to summit the F1 world one last time.
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