F1 2026: Lewis Hamilton gets new race engineer after Ferrari split

Lewis Hamilton and Riccardo Adami in conversation — Photo: © IMAGO

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Lewis Hamilton gets new race engineer after Ferrari split

Lewis Hamilton will not work with Riccardo Adami in 2026

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 20 January 2026 12:55 Updated: 15:06

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Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton will have a new race engineer for 2026, and now, reports in Italian media have confirmed who that will be for the pre-season testing event in Barcelona.

It was announced last week that Hamilton will no longer have Riccardo Adami as his race engineer in 2026, following a turbulent 2025 between the pair which featured a series of awkward team radio messages.

They did not hit the ground running as a partnership immediately during Hamilton's first season with Ferrari, and team principal Fred Vasseur suggested at the end of last year that there would be an evaluation of Hamilton's team personnel.

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Last week's announcement included the fact that Adami would be moving on to a different role within Ferrari, taking up a position as Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy manager and testing of previous cars (TPC) manager.

This has left Hamilton without a race engineer for 2026, and as Ferrari work to find a permanent replacement for Adami, a report from Corriere Della Sera has confirmed who will take on the role at the upcoming pre-season testing event in Barcelona.

F1 heads to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from January 26 for a five-day testing event behind closed doors.

And the above publication has suggested that Charles Leclerc's race engineer Bryan Bozzi will take responsibility for both drivers during this testing event, with there only set to be one SF-26 split between Hamilton and Leclerc present for the duration of the test.

Why was Adami axed as Hamilton's race engineer?

While Ferrari did not give a specific reason for Adami's axing, the disagreements between Hamilton and the Italian engineer over team radio were clear for all to hear last year.

At the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Hamilton seemed bemused by a lack of information coming from Adami, while the Miami GP saw Hamilton tell the team through Adami to 'have a cup of tea' after he was angered by the fact that he wasn't being let through by Leclerc.

Then came the Monaco GP, when it had appeared as though Adami had blanked Hamilton when the Brit had asked 'Are you annoyed at me?' However, that was later cleared up with Ferrari suggesting Adami had already left the pit wall at that stage.

Even as late on as the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP there was an awkward moment, when Hamilton appeared to be blanked by Adami when talking about the season as a whole. Adami did apologise for this and said that he had been talking with team members on the pit wall.

These moments led to suggestions the pair had not gelled particularly well together since Hamilton joined the team in January last year, and the removal of Adami from his position ahead of 2026 might be more clear evidence of this.