have introduced the removing of Riccardo Adami as ’s race engineer, only one week earlier than the staff launch their 2026 automotive.
Adami, who had beforehand labored with and Carlos Sainz on the Scuderia, has been inside Ferrari’s Driver Academy and their TPC (Testing of Earlier Automobiles) programme.
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Hamilton and Adami within the Briton’s first yr at Ferrari, with miscommunication between the pair repeatedly heard over staff radio all through race weekends final yr.
Because of this, Hamilton is choosing a brand new ‘man-in-his-ear’ this season as he seems to be to bounce again after a in Ferrari purple, wherein he didn’t register a podium end.
However who’s the present frontrunner to exchange Adami as Hamilton’s race engineer?
Hamilton’s present efficiency engineer, Luca Diella, is at the moment believed to be the frontrunner to be Adami’s substitute, in response to Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport. The Unbiased has approached Ferrari for remark.
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Diella joined Ferrari final yr, having beforehand labored in Hamilton’s camp at . On the time, Hamilton stated of the change: “It is not simple to modify engineers throughout the center of the season, however it’s somebody that I’ve identified for years [and was] really from my earlier staff with me, however not in that place.
“So we’re getting used to one another and having to be taught tremendous, tremendous fast.”
Diella joined Mercedes in 2019, initially as a efficiency engineer with duty for the staff’s optimisation of their energy unit, earlier than shifting into Hamilton’s storage firstly of the 2021 season, when Hamilton infamously missed out on an eighth title on the in Abu Dhabi.
Diella labored because the trackside efficiency engineer for Hamilton throughout 4 seasons, particularly because the “energy unit efficiency engineer.”
Riccardo Adami has been axed as Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer (PA Wire)
Luca Diella is the frontrunner to be Hamilton’s new race engineer (Brunel College of London/YouTube)
He then moved to Ferrari forward of the 2025 season as a race engineer for the take a look at staff, earlier than shifting to Hamilton’s storage earlier than final yr’s Belgian Grand Prix in July. At this race, Hamilton revealed he had because the staff sought an enchancment in efficiency.
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Previous to his work in F1, Diella was a improvement engineer at Cosworth, engaged on the powertrain for the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar, and was a staff principal at Brunel Racing, main the Brunel College Method Pupil programme. He graduated from Brunel with a masters diploma in Motorsport Engineering.
Ought to Diella tackle the position as Hamilton’s race engineer, it might comply with a near-identical scenario throughout the storage with Hamilton’s teammate, .
In 2024, Leclerc grew pissed off together with his former race engineer, Xavi Marcos and, just a few races into that marketing campaign, Marcos (who has since moved to Cadillac as chief race engineer) was changed by Bryan Bozzi, who was additionally Leclerc’s efficiency engineer on the time.
An identical transfer for Hamilton may very well be within the offing, simply seven weeks out from the primary race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton had a constructive partnership with Peter Bonnington at Mercedes (Getty Photographs)
Lastly, this can be very unlikely that Hamilton’s race engineer at Mercedes, Peter “Bono” Bonnington, would relocate and make the transfer throughout to Ferrari.
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Bonnington obtained a promotion at Mercedes final yr, now performing as head of trackside efficiency, and is glad additionally working as race engineer for Hamilton’s substitute, Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli.
Hamilton loved a fruitful relationship with Bonnington, successful all six of his world championships on the Silver Arrows with “Bono” by his aspect over a 12-year interval. Bonnington additionally beforehand labored with Michael Schumacher at Mercedes.
Ferrari, in the meantime, livery this Friday, 23 January. The primary of three pre-season assessments takes place in Barcelona subsequent week, earlier than the season-opener in Melbourne on 8 March.
