Ferrari is set to change Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer, as Riccardo Adami moves into a new internal position and a potential replacement begins to take shape. Following Riccardo Adami’s role change, the Scuderia is now searching for the right engineer to work alongside Hamilton for the 2026 Formula 1 season. According to Paolo Filisetti, writing in La Gazzetta dello Sport, the name currently leading the list is Luca Diella, a highly experienced technician with a long background in Formula 1 performance departments, particularly alongside the British driver.
The appointment of a race engineer is far from a simple administrative switch. In modern Formula 1, the relationship between driver and engineer is crucial to translating on-track sensations into effective race strategies and long-term technical development. For a champion like Lewis Hamilton, especially within a historic team such as Ferrari, this connection can be decisive in determining whether the team fights consistently for victories and titles or remains on the fringes of the championship battle.
Who is Luca Diella: the potential new race engineer for Hamilton
Luca Diella is a Performance Engineer with a strong and well-rounded technical background. He began his academic journey at Park College – Sussex Downs, where he studied between 2008 and 2011. He later completed a degree in Motorsport Engineering at Brunel University London, graduating in 2016. During his studies, he also took part in an integrated internship, gaining early exposure to applied engineering in motorsport.
Diella’s professional career began even before he had completed his university education, as he took on various technical roles across the automotive and motorsport sectors. In 2013, he worked as a combustion and emissions engineer at Cummins, a company specialising in engines and related technologies. In May 2015, he spent four months at Ricardo, a major engineering consultancy, where he focused on engine analysis and optimisation.
In September of the same year, he returned to Brunel University as Team Principal and Calibration Lead for Brunel Racing, the university’s Formula Student team. In this role, Diella demonstrated notable technical leadership from the early stages of his career, overseeing both performance development and organisational aspects of the project.
In January 2016, he stepped into the world of high-performance motorsport by joining Cosworth as a Development Engineer. There, he contributed to the development of high-performance components and powertrain systems, further strengthening his expertise in advanced engineering solutions.
The breakthrough: from Mercedes to Ferrari and the link with Hamilton
The most significant step forward in Diella’s career came with his move to Mercedes in Formula 1. Between 2019 and 2021, he established himself as a Performance Engineer within the team, eventually becoming Lewis Hamilton’s Performance Engineer. Over four seasons in Formula 1, he built a strong technical working relationship with the British driver, founded on trust and a shared understanding of performance optimisation.
In that role, Diella was closely involved in power unit optimisation and race software management, playing a key part in refining performance across different track conditions and race scenarios. This collaboration allowed him to develop a deep technical alignment with Hamilton, an aspect that is particularly valuable when working with a driver of such experience and sensitivity.
In February 2025, Diella made the move to Ferrari, initially joining the test team before becoming the Performance Engineer dedicated to the number 44 SF-25. In this position, he supported Lewis Hamilton during his adaptation process to the Ferrari car and working methods. This phase further strengthened Diella’s standing within the team and positioned him as a leading candidate to take on the role of Hamilton’s race engineer in the near future.
With Ferrari preparing for the 2026 Formula 1 season, the potential appointment of Luca Diella would represent a choice based on continuity, technical familiarity and an already established working relationship with Lewis Hamilton, all key factors in a period of major regulatory and competitive change.
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