Lewis Hamilton's decision to take nobody with him from Mercedes to Ferrari has been branded as "absolutely fascinating" by former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard.
Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari last year saw the seven-time world champion work with a full group of new engineers, including a new race engineer in Ricardo Adami.
Nobody followed Hamilton to the Scuderia from Mercedes, meaning an entire garage had to learn how to work with the 41-year-old.
Unfortunately, throughout 2025 Hamilton and Adami struggled to connect and had noticeable issues over the radio. For the new season, Adami has been moved away from the F1 team, meaning Hamilton will receive a new race engineer.
However, despite the 2026 campaign starting in just over two weeks, Hamilton’s new race engineer has yet to be confirmed, leaving little time for a bond to be formed.
Coulthard is amazed at the situation surrounding Hamilton and his lack of a race engineer, deeming the relationship "more important" than one with a loved one.
"I find it absolutely fascinating that Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes and walked into Ferrari alone," David Coulthard said on the Up to Speed podcast. "He didn't take anyone with him, and he may have brought Angela Cullen, his physio, back.
"She'd gone away towards the end of his Mercedes career, so he had, let's say, someone around him who was a sort of touchpoint to make him feel comfortable. But every time I left a team, I took an engineer with me — they’re your data bank of knowledge.
"The relationship with your engineer is the most important relationship in the team, because that's the person who fights your corner in terms of new parts coming into the team.
"That's the person who gives you all the information when you're out on track to define what your strategy is going to be, because the strategist can tell you to pit now, but if the driver doesn't come in, you're not pitting now. So it's so important — arguably more important than the relationship you have with your partner."
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