Lewis Hamilton admits his late change of race engineer for his second year at Ferrari will be “detrimental” to his 2026 Formula 1 season, as Riccardo Adami’s permanent replacement will not be in the position for the opening races.
Hamilton’s sometimes awkward exchanges with Adami during his troubled 2025 campaign drew plenty of attention.
Ferrari announced a week before its 2026 car launch last month that Adami was being moved off Hamilton’s car into a new role within the team’s Driver Academy.
Hamilton's temporary race engineer is one of Kimi Raikkonen's former race engineer Carlo Santi.
Santi is working with Hamilton for the Bahrain tests and the early 2026 races.
The Race understands Ferrari has identified Adami’s full-time successor but they might not be immediately available - suggesting perhaps a period of ‘gardening leave’ before they can join from another team.
Hamilton admitted the situation added an extra challenge to a season when the huge rule changes would’ve made engineering team stability helpful.
“It's actually quite a difficult period because it's not long term, the solution that I currently have,” he said.
“It's only going to be a few races. So early on into the season, it's going to all be switching up again and I'll have to learn to work with someone new.
“So that's detrimental to me too. A season where you want to arrive with people that have done multiple seasons, that have been through thick and thin - and I can't.
“But it is the situation that I'm faced with and I'll try to do the best I can. The team is trying to do the best they can to help make it as seamless as possible.”
He called the decision to part with Adami “a very difficult decision to make” and added that he was “really, really grateful for all the effort he put in last year and his patience. It was a difficult year for us all”.
