Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari’s failure to appoint a new permanent race engineer for him ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season will be “detrimental” to his second campaign with the Italian team.
Ferrari confirmed in January that Riccardo Adami, Hamilton’s race engineer for his challenging debut season with the team, was being shifted to another role elsewhere in the organisation.
The team has yet to make any further official statements regarding a replacement, but it is understood that Carlo Santi, who previously worked with Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari, has been appointed on an interim basis.
Without referring to Santi by name, Hamilton confirmed on Wednesday at pre-season testing in Bahrain that he will be changing race engineer again in the not-too-distant future.
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Lewis Hamilton appeared frustrated by communications over team radio at various stages of the 2025 season.
Hamilton said: “It’s actually quite a difficult period because it’s not long-term, the solution that we currently have, it’s only going to be a few races.
“So, early on into the season, it’s going to be switching up again, and I’ll have to learn to work with someone new, so that’s detrimental to a season where you want to arrive with people that have done multiple seasons, have been through thick and thin and are calm.
“But it is the situation that I’m faced with and I’ll try to do the best that I can. The team is trying to do the best they can to make it as seamless as possible.”
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Jenson Button admitted it was ‘tough’ to see former team-mate Lewis Hamilton struggling during his first season with Ferrari, but he backs the seven-time world champion to improve this year.
The broadcast of team radio messages throughout Hamilton’s first season at Ferrari suggested communication struggles between the seven-time world champion and Adami, but Hamilton said making the change had been a “very difficult” call.
“With Riccardo, it was obviously a very difficult decision to make,” Hamilton said.
“I’m really, really grateful for all the effort he put in last year and his patience in what was a difficult year for us all.”
Hamilton: New F1 cars more fun to drive
Hamilton struggled with the previous ground effect generation of F1 cars, going through 2025 without standing on the podium – the first season he’s failed to finish a race in the top three in his career.
The reset in regulations provide Ferrari a chance to challenge for the championship with opportunities to outdevelop their rivals on the power unit and chassis side. Hamilton says he’s enjoying the new 2026 cars even though they feel like “GP2 cars” due to the low downforce.
“I think right at the moment it doesn’t feel anything like the genre before, and it’s really just too early days,” he said.
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Lewis Hamilton discusses the tough conditions of the first day of Testing in Bahrain, describing the lack of grip like the ‘Monza downforce’
“With the baseline car that we have, we’re still trying to test lots of different things, we’re still trying to find the window that it likes to work in, we haven’t optimised the tyres, we haven’t optimised the aero package yet, the ride height, the mechanical balance, all these different things, so I’m not going to judge it just now.
“It didn’t feel great out there today with the wind, it was very, very gusty, the gustiest I can remember it being here. We just had to take it with a pinch of salt, plus it’s the first day here, which in the morning is never fun. But in general, as I said at the last test, it’s a more fun car to drive.”
Hamilton has not been able to challenge for the title since the controversial 2021 season and remains level with Michael Schumacher on a record seven drivers’ championships.
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Craig Slater asks former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, whether Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari will turn their fortunes around in 2026
Asked by Sky Sports F1 if he feels the new regulations give him a chance for an eighth title, he said: “Impossible to know at the moment. I hope we’re in the mix.
“I think, apart from Mercedes, we all look like we’re quite close, but we don’t know what fuel loads people are on. There’s whispers of certain fuel loads that Mercedes are on, there’s whispers of extra power that they have that the rest of us don’t – the compression ratio sort of thing.
“So hopefully that gets sorted and the FIA take care of that and make sure that we’re all starting on an equal playing field, and then we’ll see.”
Sky Sports F1’s Bahrain Testing schedule
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Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz looks closer at how F1 in 2026 will look as the sport starts a new era of recharge mode, more electric power, new teams and engine suppliers.
Test One: Wednesday 11th, Thursday 12th, Friday 13th February
- 3pm: Final hour of track running Live
- 8pm: Testing Wrap
- 8.30pm: Ted’s Testing Notebook
Test Two: Wednesday 18th, Thursday 19th, Friday 20th February
- 6.50am-11.05am: Morning session Live
- 11.55am-4.10pm: Afternoon session Live
- 8pm: Testing Wrap
Watch every race of the 2026 F1 season live on Sky Sports, starting with the Australian Grand Prix from March 6-8. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
