Forging a positive relationship with new race engineer Riccardo Adami will be essential to Lewis Hamilton having a successful Formula 1 journey with Ferrari.
Hamilton arrived in Maranello this week for the first time as a Ferrari driver.
On Monday, he visited the team’s headquarters to meet and greet colleagues and a smattering of loyal Tifosi.
Furthermore, Hamilton conducted some simulator mileage and on Wednesday conducted his first real laps in a Ferrari F1 car, circulating the Scuderia’s Fiorano test circuit in the SF-23.
A statement released by Ferrari after the testing run confirmed that Adami will be Hamilton’s race engineer for the 2025 season.
“Today at 9.16, an SF-23 bearing the number 44, left the garage for the first time, for a single installation lap on rain tyres, under the watchful eye of Team Principal Fred Vasseur and his deputy Jerome d’Ambrosio,” read Ferrari’s Wednesday statement.
“Members of Lewis’ family were also there and were clearly excited.
“Once back in the pits, the Englishman stayed in the car, speaking to his race engineer Riccardo Adami over the radio.”
The statement concluded by saying Hamilton “completed a total of 30 laps, equal to 89 kilometres” and ended his running with a “post-session debrief with the engineers.”
Adami gets high praise from former Ferrari drivers
Hamilton succeeds Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel in working with race engineer Adami.
It’s reported by Corriere dello Sport that in a phone conversation with Vettel ahead of his trip to Maranello, Hamilton quizzed his German friend on working with Adami.
Vettel has high praise for the Italian, having previously said: “We’ve known each other forever and he’s a friend.
“He’s one of those who represents the values of Ferrari, if the brand is unique it’s because there are people like that in Maranello.”
Sainz, too, held Adami in high esteem, telling F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast that “‘Ricky’ is exactly the guy that I needed when I arrived at Ferrari.
“A guy that knew the team inside out, he had been many years in Ferrari at the time and I remember going into such a big organisation, such a big world without knowing anything about the insights of the team and Ricky did a very good job at introducing me to the key people introducing me to all the Maranello fabric and all the mechanics he has a great relationship with.”
Adami and Hamilton will need to embrace change
Hamilton joins Adami and Ferrari following 12 seasons working with race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington, who remains at Mercedes in a promoted roll: Head of Race Engineering.
Hamilton and Bono formed not only a great working relationship but a friendship.
Following their final race together, Hamilton said: he’s been one of my closest friends for many years.
“It’s something I didn’t expect to have, he’s worked with Michael Schumacher, he’s worked with great drivers, but the longest he’s stood by me, an engineer to stick with someone, a frustrating and painful as it can sometimes be, he’s stood by me every single day without fail.”
Adami and Sainz enjoyed a similarly close bond during their four years together and it’s up to the new pairing at Ferrari to integrate quickly and form a prosperous partnership moving forward.
It’s a big change for both, but Adami and Hamilton have the character and skill to make their partnership a success.
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