Formula 1 News: Hamilton to get new Race Engineer in 2026, but will it matter?
Ferrari confirmed this week that Lewis Hamilton will enter the 2026 Formula 1 season with a new race engineer. Riccardo Adami (pictured), who guided Hamilton through his difficult debut year with the Scuderia in 2025, is moving to a new role within the Ferrari Driver Academy, overseeing young driver development and testing of previous cars.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
The partnership lasted just one season. Adami, a veteran engineer who previously worked with Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, was paired with Hamilton after the Briton’s high-profile switch from Mercedes. While Ferrari thanked Adami for his contributions, the move comes after a 2025 campaign marked by reported tension over team radio and underwhelming on-track results for the seven-time world champion.
A new voice on the radio is coming for Hamilton—but the bigger question facing fans and pundits is whether it will make any meaningful difference.
A Tough Two Years Against Younger Teammates
Hamilton’s struggles in recent seasons cannot be pinned solely on engineering relationships. The numbers from the last two years paint a clear picture of decline relative to his teammates—across two different teams and two different race engineers.
In 2024, his final year at Mercedes, George Russell outperformed Hamilton in most key metrics. Russell scored 245 points to Hamilton’s 223, dominated qualifying 19-5, and took four poles to Hamilton’s zero. While both drivers secured two race wins, Russell generally had the edge in single-lap pace and consistency.
The trend continued—and worsened—in 2025 at Ferrari. Charles Leclerc delivered a dominant intra-team performance, finishing with 242 points to Hamilton’s 156. Leclerc claimed seven podiums and the team’s only pole of the season; Hamilton recorded zero podiums and failed to reach the top three once. Race head-to-heads heavily favored the Monegasque, with Leclerc winning the majority of direct battles.
Two consecutive seasons. Two different teams. Two younger teammates. Two comprehensive defeats.
Was the Engineer Really the Problem?
Hamilton’s long-standing partnership with Peter Bonnington (“Bono”) at Mercedes was one of the most successful driver-engineer relationships in F1 history, contributing to six of his seven titles. Yet even with Bono in 2024, Hamilton could not match Russell’s pace.
The short-lived Adami experiment in 2025 was fraught from the start, with several on-board radio exchanges highlighting frustration on both sides.
A new engineer for 2026 could improve communication and strategy calls, especially with the major regulation overhaul looming. Better synergy on the pit wall is rarely a bad thing.
But history suggests the engineer is not the root cause. Hamilton has now been outperformed in back-to-back years despite changing teams and engineers. At 41 years old, the more uncomfortable question is whether age and the relentless physical and mental demands of modern F1 are finally taking their toll.
Fernando Alonso, at 44, continues to extract impressive performances from Aston Martin, proving age alone is not a definitive barrier. Yet not every driver ages the same way. Hamilton’s trademark qualifying brilliance has dimmed, and his racecraft, while still elite, no longer consistently overcomes younger, hungrier teammates in identical machinery.
Looking Ahead to 2026
The sweeping 2026 technical regulations offer a potential reset for everyone, including Hamilton. A clean slate, a new engineer, and fresh motivation could spark a revival. Hamilton remains one of the most experienced and decorated drivers on the grid, and writing him off entirely would be premature.
Still, the evidence of the past two seasons is hard to ignore. Changing the voice in his ear might smooth some edges, but it is unlikely to reverse the broader trend.
Will the new race engineer matter? Probably not as much as Hamilton and Ferrari fans are hoping.