Last Updated on February 5 2026, 12:28 pm
Lewis Hamilton is set to return to the Formula 1 grid in 2026, determined to leave his challenging first season with Ferrari in the past. A fresh start is underway: The seven-time world champion will start the new campaign with a different race engineer after a turbulent year marked by tension, miscommunication, and public radio disputes.
While Ferrari has ended the problematic partnership, a respected Formula 1 insider questions how the Scuderia handled such a crucial role so close to the start of the season.
The partnership never clicked
From the opening races of Hamilton’s Ferrari tenure, it became clear that his working relationship with race engineer Riccardo Adami was far from smooth. Team radio exchanges often descended into confusion and frustration, with awkward exchanges being broadcast to a global audience.
Instructions were questioned, feedback appeared to go unheard, and both sides seemed to be operating on different wavelengths. Rather than forming the seamless driver–engineer unit required to fight at the front of the grid, the pairing often looked out of sync — an uncomfortable situation for a team with championship ambitions.
Ferrari eventually acknowledged the issue. Earlier this year, the team confirmed that Adami would no longer serve as Hamilton’s race engineer and that the Italian would be reassigned within the organization. This decision ended one chapter but raised another pressing question.
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A key role remains unfilled
With preseason testing approaching and the new campaign only weeks away, Ferrari has yet to publicly announce Adami’s replacement as Hamilton’s primary point of contact on race weekends. This delay has raised eyebrows within the paddock, including those of former Formula 1 driver and current TV analyst Karun Chandhok.
“To be honest, I find the whole thing a bit strange,” Chandhok said in an interview with talkSPORT. From his perspective, the timing of Ferrari’s decision is difficult to understand, given the position’s importance.
“If they were going to make this decision, why didn’t they do it in December?” Chandhok asked. “The relationship between a driver and a race engineer is so crucial for success.”
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Why Timing Matters in Modern F1
Chandhok stressed that the driver–engineer relationship goes far beyond radio calls during a race. In modern Formula 1, the two work together constantly, analyzing data, refining setup philosophies, and developing a shared understanding of how to extract performance from the car.
He compared this dynamic to that of a tennis player and their coach — a partnership built on trust, familiarity, and constant communication. “They have to work in sync 24 hours a day,” Chandhok explained.
Had Ferrari made the change at the end of last season, Hamilton and his new engineer could have spent the winter building their connection away from the spotlight. They could have used simulator sessions and technical briefings to align their approaches.
Was this a missed opportunity over the winter?
According to Chandhok, the off-season would have been the ideal time for Ferrari to reset. “That would have allowed Lewis and his new race engineer to build a relationship over the winter by using the simulator and things like that,” he said.
Instead, the Scuderia now faces a compressed timeline. Whoever steps into the role will need to adapt quickly to Hamilton’s communication style and integrate into Ferrari’s internal processes — all while facing the pressure of an imminent season start.
For a team seeking to maximize Hamilton’s remaining years at the top level, that is far from ideal preparation.
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Waiting for Ferrari’s next move
For now, Ferrari has remained silent on who will guide Hamilton from the pit wall in 2026. Chandhok, like many observers, is waiting for clarity.
“So let’s wait and see what happens,” the former F1 driver concluded.
With expectations high and margins in Formula 1 smaller than ever, Ferrari’s next decision could play a decisive role in whether Hamilton’s second year in red marks a resurgence or another season of frustration.
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NEXT ARTICLE – Williams confess they don’t know yet what happened to make them miss the Barcelona test
This week, Williams revealed their 2026 livery complete with partners adorning the historic blue colours of the Grove based Formula One team. They missed the Barcelona test last week in what many believe may prove disastrous for the British racing marque.
Missing a pre-season test is usually sign of big trouble ahead and Williams were the last team to do so back in 2019 when they were absent from the first 2.5 days in Barcelona. Prior to this, Force India (now Aston Martin) had a shocker of a pre-season, finding themselves absent from the first two complete tests in Jerez and Barcelona in 2015.
The same year the soon to be defunct Marrusia missed the entire pre-season along with the opening weekend in Melbourne, going on to score no points all year before a name change yo Manor.
Missing Barcelona not a positive step
So however, James Vowles chooses to spin the matter, missing the Barcelona test was a huge negative for the Williams team. However, unlike Aston Martin who merely failed to set themselves proper deadlines for sign off on technical aspects of the car not giving production enough time to ready them for Barcelona, Williams did indeed make a choice to miss the Barcelona test to invest their time in something they believed would be more productive.
The Aston Martin AMR26 limped onto the track late on Thursday completing just five laps, before the final day in the hands of Fernando Alonso another 49 laps were added. Yet the Williams announcement the week before the cars were due to hit the track in the Catalan capital was nuanced.
“Atlassian Williams F1 Team has taken the decision not to participate in next week’s shakedown test in Barcelon…. The team will instead conduct a series of tests including a VTT [Virtual Track Testing] programme next week with the 2026 car to prepare for the first official test in Bahrain and the first race of the season in Melbourne,” read a statement from the team.
For fans of the famous old British F1 team., the news came as a blow falling Williams finest season in 2025 in recent memory. They scored more points than in the three previous year’s combined and finished an impressive 5th, behind the leading four McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari…CONTINUE TO READ THIS STORY
Stanton is a London-based journalist specialising in sports business and sponsorship. With a degree in economics and years reporting for business-focused publications, Stanton translates F1’s complex financial world into clear, compelling narratives.
Lewis Hamilton will not be winning an 8th F1 title no matter how many Lewis headlines published here daily. One of the TWENTY-ONE OTHER, overlooked F1 drivers will win the 2026 title. You read it here first!