Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami

Photo: Race Pictures

The race engineers Hamilton has worked with throughout his F1 career

16:01, 18 Jan

byTobia Elia

Lewis Hamilton will have a new race engineer in 2026 — but who are the others he has worked with?

It emerged just days ago that Riccardo Adami will no longer serve as the seven-time world champion’s race engineer, with the Italian set to remain within Ferrari from next season in the role of Driver Academy and Test Previous Cars Manager.

Last season, Adami found himself in the spotlight on several occasions due to less-than-polished communication with the Briton, with a number of team radio exchanges going viral on social media and sparking widespread debate among both fans and insiders.

The legendary partnership between Hamilton and Peter Bonnington — better known as Bono — is still fresh in everyone’s mind, but over the course of his career, the Briton has worked with more than just the two aforementioned figures.

Photo: Race Pictures

Philip Prew - McLaren

He was the engineer at Hamilton’s side when the seven-time world champion first stepped onto the Formula 1 grid in 2007, remaining a constant presence through the formative phase of his McLaren career.

That partnership spanned both the highs of the 2008 title triumph and the struggles of the following season, before he moved into a wider managerial role in 2010 as Principal Race Engineer, taking responsibility for both cars.

His path in Formula 1 started in 1997 a technical capacity as a Vehicle Dynamics Engineer, before he became Performance Engineer to Mika Hakkinen during McLaren’s dominant championship years in 1998 and 1999, continuing their collaboration into 2000.

A promotion followed in 2001, when he took on the role of race engineer for David Coulthard, a position he held for four seasons. He later switched to working with Juan Pablo Montoya in 2005 and the early stages of 2006, before Montoya’s exit, completing the year alongside reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa.

Today, Prew remains a highly influential figure in the paddock, holding the role of Technical Operations Director at Red Bull Powertrains.

Mark Slade - McLaren

Temple’s stint alongside Hamilton as race engineer was relatively short-lived. He stepped into the role from the Singapore Grand Prix onwards in 2012, before moving into a full-time race engineer position in 2013.

That season saw him work with a range of drivers at McLaren, including Sergio Pérez, Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso. Prior to that, Temple had already been part of Hamilton’s inner circle, serving as his Performance Engineer between 2010 and 2011.

Over the years, the Brit steadily climbed the ranks at the Woking-based team, transitioning into a factory-based role as Team Leader for Simulation Development before later becoming Principal Performance Engineer. In 2024, his progression culminated in his appointment as McLaren’s Technical Director – Performance.

Bonnington will not be reunited with Hamilton in 2026

With Adami set to move to the Ferrari Driver Academy, Hamilton is now forced to look for a new trusted voice on the pit wall just days before the first test.

The seven-time world champion would have liked to reunite with his long-time Mercedes race engineer Peter Bonnington in Italy, but GPblog has learned that such a scenario is firmly off the table.

Bonnington — universally known as Bono — will continue in his role as race engineer to Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli in 2026.

Read the full story here.

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