It has become clear who Hamilton will work with at Ferrari during the tests

Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton will start the 2026 season with a new race engineer and Italian media have already revealed who will work with the Briton in pre-season testing in Barcelona.

Last week, Ferrari officially announced that Hamilton would no longer work with Riccardo Adami as race engineer. The decision comes after a busy 2025 season that included a series of awkward radio conversations between pilot and engineer.

The partnership has not worked out since Hamilton’s first year with the team, and Ferrari boss Fred Vasser confirmed the makeup of the engineering staff would be reviewed at the end of last season. It was later learned that Adami would remain with the team but would move to another position: director of the Ferrari Driver Academy and head of the previous car testing program (TPC).

While the team is looking for a permanent replacement, Corriere della Sera reports that Charles Leclerc’s engineer Brian Bozzi will temporarily act as Hamilton’s race engineer during pre-season closed testing, which starts in Barcelona on January 26. According to the source, only one SF-26 vehicle will be used in the tests, which will be shared by both pilots, so Bozzi will work with two drivers at the same time.

Ferrari did not give any official reason for breaking off cooperation with Adami, but public misunderstandings arose several times throughout the season. Already at the Australian Grand Prix, Hamilton expressed surprise at the lack of information on the radio, in Miami he reacted sharply to the tactical decisions of the team, and in Monaco a situation arose in which the driver thought that the engineer was ignoring him. A similar incident occurred at the last stage of the season in Abu Dhabi, after which Adami apologized and explained this by communicating on the command bridge.

All these moments reinforced the impression that Hamilton and Adami had never quite found a common language, and the personnel changes made on the eve of the 2026 season were the logical conclusion of this difficult partnership.