Lewis Hamilton says splitting with race engineer Riccardo Adami was “a very difficult decision to make” ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Hamilton’s first campaign as a Ferrari driver was perhaps the toughest in his lengthy, glittering F1 career, amid a clear lack of chemistry in his communication with Adami.
Last month, the Scuderia announced Adami was being “moved to a new role as Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and Test Previous Cars Manager”.
“It was obviously a very difficult decision to make,” Hamilton commented in Bahrain. “I'm really grateful for all the effort he put in last year, and his patience, and, you know, it was a difficult year for us all.”
During the Barcelona shakedown, Hamilton was engineered by Bryan Bozzi, who normally works with his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc and is continuing alongside the Monegasque this year.
From Bahrain onwards, Hamilton will be working with Carlos Santi, formerly Kimi Raikkonen’s race engineer at Ferrari. This is a provisional solution; whether Santi might complete the season is undecided.
“Early on into the season, it's going to be switching up again, working with someone new, that's what you need to look forward to. It would be ideal to start the season with people with whom you have done multiple seasons and that have been through thick and thin,” the seven-time world champion added. “But at the moment this is the situation we have.
“It is a situation that affects me as well, trying to do the best I can – we are trying to do the best we can.”
Hamilton was speaking after driving the Ferrari SF-26 in the opening session of the Bahrain pre-season test, setting the fourth-fastest time in 1m36.433s, exactly one second off Max Verstappen’s benchmark. He completed 52 laps overall.
Photos from Bahrain Pre-Season Testing
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Bahrain Pre-Season Testing, in photos
Bahrain Pre-Season Testing, in photos
Bahrain Pre-Season Testing, in photos
