Lewis Hamilton will have a new race engineer for F1 2026 after Ferrari announced Riccardo Adami in a new role of managing the driver academy and TPC programme.
After it looked like the last race together for Hamilton and Adami in 2025 Abu Dhabi GP, when the Brit shared a moment to thank the Italian for all the work, it has now been confirmed by Ferrari that the seven-time world champion will indeed have a new race engineer from F1 2026 onward.
Late on Friday, Ferrari shared a statement informing that Adami will move onto the new role of managing the driver academy, which was managed previously by Jock Clear. The Italian will also manage the Testing Previous Car programme, with his experience of trackside operations.
Ferrari thanked Adami for his work, while noting that the new race engineer of Hamilton will be confirmed in due course. This is a second change in a year’s time after Charles Leclerc had Xavi Marcos Padros replaced by Bryan Bozzi in the middle of 2024 F1 season.
In his role as race engineer across Toro Rosso (now Visa Cash App RB) and Ferrari, Adami has engineered for Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sebastien Buemi, Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel (twice), Carlos Sainz and most recently Hamilton.
It is unclear if the change on Hamilton’s side is part of the Brit’s request for change due to mixed run in F1 2025. They had their moments during the course of the year, but the Brit has defended Adami whenever things spiraled out in the media due to certain remarks.
Hamilton had Luca Diella as his Performance Engineer in 2025. It remains to be seen if he is promoted or replaced as well. “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 F1 expertise contributes to the development of future talent and to strengthening performance culture across the programme,” said Ferrari in a statement.
“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. The appointment of the new race engineer for car #44 will be announced in due course.”
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