Formula 1, Sportrik Media - Lewis Hamilton approaches the 2026 Formula 1 season with Scuderia Ferrari without bringing former technical personnel from Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, a decision described as “absolutely fascinating” by former F1 driver David Coulthard.
Hamilton’s move to Ferrari last year required a complete reset in working relationships inside the garage, including collaboration with race engineer Riccardo Adami. Throughout the 2025 campaign, radio exchanges between driver and engineer at times reflected a learning process still in progress, highlighting the operational complexity of integrating a multiple world champion into an established structure.
Ahead of the 2026 season, Ferrari has reorganised its technical line-up, with Adami no longer serving in the F1 race engineer role. With just over two weeks remaining before the opening round, Hamilton’s new race engineer has yet to be formally confirmed, leaving limited preparation time to establish the communication rhythm that underpins race execution.
Coulthard emphasised that in modern Formula 1, the driver–engineer relationship is central to performance delivery, particularly in areas such as upgrade prioritisation, strategy execution and real-time decision-making under pressure.
“I find it absolutely fascinating that Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes and walked into Ferrari alone.”
“Every time I left a team, I took an engineer with me — they’re your data bank of knowledge.”
“The relationship with your engineer is the most important relationship in the team, because that's the person who fights your corner in terms of new parts coming into the team. That's the person who gives you all the information when you're out on track to define what your strategy is going to be. Arguably, it’s even more important than the relationship you have with your partner.”
In an era defined by marginal gains and highly integrated performance models, continuity between driver feedback and engineering interpretation is often decisive. For Hamilton and Ferrari, confirming and consolidating that working relationship before competitive action begins will be essential to ensure operational clarity as the 2026 campaign moves into its opening phase.
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