Lewis Hamilton will get a new race engineer in Formula One this season after Ferrari announced an organizational reshuffle of its pit wall.
Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton joined Ferrari for the 2025 season and was assigned Riccardo Adami as his race engineer, serving as the primary source of contact with the team over the radio during races.
Adami had previously worked as the race engineer for Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz at Ferrari. For Hamilton, it was the first change in race engineer since 2013, having worked solely with Pete Bonnington through his time at Mercedes.
Hamilton and Adami appeared to have moments of miscommunication and tension through the Briton’s difficult first season at Ferrari, during which he failed to score a single podium finish.
On Friday, Ferrari announced that Adami would no longer serve as Hamilton’s race engineer in 2026 after being assigned fresh duties within the F1 team’s setup, working with its young driver academy and private testing program.
“Scuderia Ferrari HP announces that Riccardo Adami has moved to a new role within the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy as Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and Test Previous Cars Manager, where his extensive trackside experience and Formula 1 expertise contributes to the development of future talent and to strengthening performance culture across the program,” read a statement from Ferrari.
“Scuderia Ferrari HP would like to thank Riccardo for his commitment and contribution to his trackside role and wishes him every success in his new position.”
Adami at the Mexico Grand Prix in 2024 (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
The team said the appointment of Hamilton’s new race engineer “will be announced in due course.”
The move comes despite claims from both Hamilton and the team that there were no concerns over the relationship with his race engineer, which is one of the most critical forms of support to drivers through races.
As early as the opening race in Australia, Hamilton’s communications with Adami faced scrutiny, but he claimed these were “over-egged” and it was natural they would take time to adjust working together.
In May’s Miami Grand Prix, Hamilton vented his frustration at Adami when he wanted a quick decision about potentially swapping places with Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, telling Adami: “Have a tea break while you’re at it!”
After the Monaco Grand Prix a few weeks later, Hamilton asked Adami over the radio if he was upset with him, and appeared to receive no reply on the radio.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur downplayed this at the time, claiming there was “no tension,” while Hamilton later said that Adami had been “amazing to work with” and was a “great guy.”
The change comes ahead of a pivotal season for Hamilton and Ferrari after a difficult first season together in 2025. The team failed to win a single race, while Hamilton endured the first podium-less campaign of his F1 career that stretches back to 2007.
Speaking in December, Vasseur spoke of a need for progress to “come from everywhere” within Ferrari.
‘At the end of the day, we have to improve,” said Vasseur. “We have to improve the collaboration with Lewis. We have to improve the team. He has to improve perhaps on how he gets the best from the car that he has.”
An unsurprising yet important change
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of a driver’s race engineer. They’re the primary contact on the pit wall that helps to run their race, making big calls that can be the difference between victory and defeat.
Through his 12-year stint at Mercedes, Hamilton forged one of the strongest driver/engineer relationships in F1 history with Bonnington, who he called “Bono.” Hamilton even likened Bonnington to a brother.
Together they won six world titles, with Bonnington’s coolness under pressure perhaps being best reflected when he helped guide Hamilton to victory on three wheels at the 2020 British Grand Prix following a last-lap puncture.
But there never seemed to be a similar spark with Adami. Despite his own good record working with Vettel and Sainz, the early friction with Hamilton, as much as it may have been down to teething problems, never seemed to fully disappear.
Hamilton felt he could have been stronger with his comments in Miami and saw it as proof of his hunger and desire, but the fact they were needed was telling.
In a bid to unlock the best out of Hamilton in a big year for F1, with the new car design rules giving the opportunity for teams to snap out of slumps in form, Ferrari will hope this change can contribute to a needed uptick in performance.