Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has refused to rule out a change of race engineer for Lewis Hamilton ahead of the F1 2026 season, admitting the team is “evaluating all options.”
It comes after a number of awkward exchanges over team radio between Hamilton and current race engineer Riccardo Adami over the course of F1 2025.
Ferrari teases potential new race engineer for Lewis Hamilton in F1 2026
Hamilton had a disastrous first season with Ferrari in 2025, failing to register a podium finish across a campaign for the first time in his career.
The seven-time world champion ultimately finished a massive 86 points behind teammate Charles Leclerc in the standings.
Hamilton’s season was defined by a series of tense exchanges with Adami, who previously worked with Sebastian Vettel (2015-20) and Carlos Sainz (2021-24), over team radio.
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The most memorable example arguably came at the Miami Grand Prix in May, when Hamilton expressed his annoyance with Adami talking to him in braking zones before sarcastically suggesting that the pit wall should “have a tea break while you’re at it” as it dithered over team orders.
At the end of the race a few weeks later in Monaco, meanwhile, Hamilton received no response when he was heard asking Adami: “Are you upset with me or something?”
With the working relationship between Hamilton and Adami seemingly struggling to gel, Vasseur has left the door open to a potential change of race engineer on his side of the garage ahead of next season.
According to Italian publication Corriere della Sera, Vasseur replied when asked if Adami will remain as Hamilton’s engineer: “We are evaluating all options.”
The Ferrari team principal went on to concede that a lack of “understanding” between team and driver contributed to Hamilton’s underachievement in 2025.
He added: “We need to improve our collaboration. He needs to try to get more out of the car he has. Every detail counts.
“It’s also about understanding each other better. We know each other better on the other side of the garage.
“Knowing what Lewis needs, what he wants. I also need to understand what he wants.”
Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc: Ferrari head-to-head scores for F1 2025
F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Hamilton worked with just a single race engineer, Peter Bonnington, over the course of his 12 seasons with Mercedes between 2013 and 2024.
As revealed by PlanetF1.com in 2024, a so-called ‘no-poaching clause’ in his Mercedes contract prevented Hamilton from directly approaching his Mercedes colleagues to follow him to Ferrari.
Bonnington was promoted to the role of head of race engineering in August 2024, retaining his place on the pit wall in 2025 to act as race engineer to Hamilton’s replacement Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
It is not unusual for drivers to change race engineers over the course of their tenures with teams, with Leclerc receiving a new voice in his ear during the 2024 season.
Bryan Bozzi became Leclerc’s race engineer at that year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, replacing Xavier Marcos Padros.
Marcos Padros had served as Leclerc’s engineer since the Monegasque joined Ferrari at the start of 2019.
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