Riccardo Adami never understood one thing about Lewis Hamilton as his Ferrari F1 race engineer

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Lewis Hamilton will work with a new race engineer in 2026 after Ferrari confirmed on Friday that Riccardo Adami has been moved to a new role within the Formula 1 team.

Hamilton and Adami struggled to gel following the former’s arrival at Ferrari from Mercedes in 2025. The pair frequently clashed over the Scuderia’s team radio, as they struggled to get on the same page from the start of their time together despite the Italian’s past experience.

Adami joined Ferrari in 2015 to work as the race engineer of Sebastian Vettel, following the German’s move from Red Bull that term. The Italian also retained the role after Carlos Sainz joined from McLaren in 2021, and he often enjoyed a strong relationship with the Spaniard.

But Ferrari did not see the same type of bond that Adami held with Vettel and Sainz develop with Hamilton. So, Adami has now taken over as the manager of the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA), and he will also oversee the Scuderia’s testing of previous cars (TPC) programme.

Riccardo Adami never understood Lewis Hamilton’s need for emotional support

Ferrari confirmed that Hamilton will receive a new race engineer in 2026 this Friday, with an announcement on who will replace Adami expected soon. The move had been on the cards, as Hamilton notably clashed with Adami in Miami, Monaco, Canada and Abu Dhabi in 2025.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton’s seven best Mercedes drives before joining Ferrari in 2025

The cause of Hamilton and Adami’s problems at Ferrari were due to a lack of understanding between them. According to Autosport Web, Adami never understood Hamilton’s need for emotional support compared to the thoughtful approach he embraced for Vettel and Sainz.

Adami struggled to read between the lines of what Hamilton wanted from him, which led to several instances of mixed messaging last term. Hamilton also struggled to understand what Adami wanted from him after 12 seasons with Peter Bonnington as his engineer at Mercedes.

A report by Top Speed also notes that ‘no one’ at Ferrari considered that Hamilton may have needed to build a rapport with Adami following his move from Mercedes. The Scuderia also did not consider that Bonnington was more than just an engineer for Hamilton at Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel ‘recommended’ Riccardo Adami to Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton developed an extremely close relationship with Bonnington at Mercedes, and the English engineer knew exactly what his compatriot wanted. But the 50-year-old stayed with the Silver Arrows to work with Andrea Kimi Antonelli following Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari.

Bonnington also became Mercedes’ head of race engineering in 2025, and he will continue to work as Antonelli’s race engineer in 2026 despite Hamilton splitting from Adami. Ferrari believe there is no chance they can reunite Hamilton with Bonnington in the 2026 season.

It remains to be seen who Ferrari name as Hamilton’s latest race engineer to replace Adami, who Vettel had ‘hotly recommended’ to the Briton. The Daily Mail notes that Vettel phoned Hamilton before he joined Ferrari to offer him a heads-up about what to expect with Adami.