Ferrari moves Riccardo Adami to a new role, confirming Lewis Hamilton will have a different race engineer for the upcoming Formula One campaign.
SEVEN-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton will have a new race engineer for the upcoming season.
Ferrari announced on Friday that Riccardo Adami, Hamilton’s engineer last year, has moved to a different role within the team.
Adami will now manage the Driver Academy and the testing of previous cars programme.
The team stated that Hamilton’s new race engineer will be announced in due course.
Hamilton joined Ferrari from Mercedes last season, which ended without a win for the team.
Reports of a strained relationship between Hamilton and Adami surfaced after terse radio exchanges, starting at the opening race in Australia.
Hamilton dismissed those reports last May, calling them “just noise.”
“Do we have disagreements? Yes, like everyone does in relationships. But we work through them. We are both in it together,” the 41-year-old said.
The awkward radio communications continued throughout the season, which ended in December.
Hamilton failed to secure a podium finish all year, a career low, unlike his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Adami had previously worked with retired champion Sebastian Vettel and Spaniard Carlos Sainz at Ferrari.
He has been with the Maranello-based team for 11 years.
Ferrari will hold a livery launch next week ahead of pre-season testing.
All 11 Formula One teams will test behind closed doors in Barcelona from January 26-30.
The 24-race season begins in Australia on March 8.
The sport enters a new engine era with a major technical rules shakeup. – Reuters
