Lewis Hamilton's partnership with his Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami has ended after a challenging first season marked by awkward radio exchanges. The Italian engineer has moved to the team's junior driver program, leaving Hamilton with a temporary replacement. Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley attributes the issues to the engineer's shortcomings.
The dissolution of Lewis Hamilton's working relationship with Riccardo Adami represents a key moment in the seven-time world champion's transition to Ferrari. Adami, whom Hamilton inherited from Carlos Sainz, left the pit wall for a role in the team's junior driver program following the 2025 season. During Hamilton's debut year at Ferrari, the pair experienced several high-profile radio exchanges that highlighted tensions, with the driver and engineer often appearing out of sync during on-track incidents.
Both Hamilton and Ferrari have denied any underlying problems, but former Ferrari and Williams engineer Rob Smedley offered a critical view. Smedley, who served as Felipe Massa's race engineer during the Brazilian's 2008 title challenge, described the dynamic as unhealthy based on the team radio communications. "If you’re having those types of comments on the radio, I guess the relationship is not quite fully formed, and that’s where it can be not healthy," Smedley said on the High Performance podcast. He emphasized the engineer's responsibility to adapt to the driver, criticizing responses like 'We’ll get back to you' as inadequate. "Mate, you’re not a call centre," he added. "These are the tiny things that erode confidence and trust."
Hamilton is currently being supported by Carlo Santi on a temporary basis, with paddock speculation pointing to Cédric Michel-Grosjean, formerly Oscar Piastri's lead trackside performance engineer at McLaren, as a potential permanent replacement later in 2026. Smedley stressed that the onus lies on the engineer to build rapport, noting, "You’re the engineer, you’re the one who gels the whole thing together."
This change comes as Ferrari prepares for the 2026 season under new regulations, with questions remaining about how it will affect Hamilton's performance.
