Ferrari have just dealt Lewis Hamilton yet another challenge that could set him up to fail

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The new regulations pose a huge challenge for every driver on the F1 grid in 2026, but Lewis Hamilton now faces yet another problem thanks to Ferrari ahead of the season.

Ferrari and Hamilton enter 2026 with the hope that the new regulations can be a fresh start for them both after a miserable 2025 campaign. The Scuderia were the only one among F1’s top four teams without a Grand Prix win last year, and Hamilton did not get a single podium.

Never before Hamilton moved to Maranello in 2025 had he gone a full season in his 19-year F1 career without taking a single Grand Prix podium. The 41-year-old even penned his worst points total under F1’s scoring system in use since 2010, with 156 from last year’s 24 rounds.

Ferrari have confirmed that Hamilton will get a new race engineer for 2026 to try to help the seven-time champion bounce back. The Briton failed to build a rapport with Riccardo Adami last season, which led to a number of tense exchanges between them over the team’s radio.

Ferrari risk setting Lewis Hamilton up to fail by not naming his new race engineer ‘anytime soon’

But while Ferrari will give Hamilton a new race engineer, Corriere della Sera reports that the Scuderia will not name Adami’s replacement ‘anytime soon’. Instead, Ferrari are set to make Bryan Bozzi pull double duty during the first pre-season test in Barcelona on January 26-30.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and aero regulations

The pride of Italy intend to have Bozzi stand in as Hamilton’s race engineer at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in addition to his normal place at the side of Charles Leclerc. Bozzi has been Leclerc’s race engineer since May 2024, when he replaced Xavi Marcos in the position.

Ferrari believe it could serve Hamilton well having Bozzi as his race engineer in Barcelona as they only see the trip to Montmelo as a ‘lengthy shakedown’ of the SF-26. The Scuderia will then ramp up their preparations for the 2026 F1 regulations era in Bahrain during February.

But Ferrari making Leclerc’s right-hand man Bozzi the temporary race engineer for Hamilton in Barcelona may set the latter up to fail. The driver-engineer relationship will be even more important with F1’s 2026 regulations, as drivers will need extra help managing their energy.

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Corriere della Sera adds that Hamilton and Adami met for dinner before Christmas to try to improve their understanding of one another. FunoAnalisiTecnica also claims Ferrari ‘worked hard’ through the winter in the hope of keeping Adami as Hamilton’s race engineer in 2026.

But it became clear that they could not continue working together, so Adami stepped down and he will now manage the Ferrari Driver Academy and their testing of previous cars (TPC) programme. Yet Ferrari are leaving Hamilton even further on the back foot entering 2026.

Hamilton is set to go into the new season facing an additional hurdle compared to his rivals by not having a permanent race engineer in place to replace Adami. Although it is thought that performance engineer Luca Diella is the favourite to be Hamilton’s new race engineer.

There have been widespread fears since the 2026 F1 regulations started to take shape that drivers could run out of energy on high-speed tracks or long straights due to the increase in electrical power. F1 has increased the electrical share of power from a 20/80 split to 50/50.