Lewis Hamilton ‘excited for new beginnings’ amid Ferrari engineering uncertainty in F1 2026
Lewis Hamilton is entering his second full season as a Ferrari driver
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton says he is “excited for new beginnings” in the F1 2026 season after “removing things that don’t serve me or bring the right energy.”
It comes amid rumours that Ferrari has identified Cedric Michel-Grosjean as Hamilton’s new race engineer after Riccardo Adami was moved to a new role within the organisation.
Lewis Hamilton ‘excited for new beginnings’ in F1 2026 after ‘removing things that don’t serve me’
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Hamilton is preparing for his second full season as a Ferrari driver in F1 2026 after a disastrous campaign in 2025.
The seven-time world champion failed to register a podium finish across a season for the first time in his career in 2025 as he struggled to match the pace of teammate Charles Leclerc.
He ended the 2025 season with four consecutive Q1 eliminations, becoming the first driver to qualify last on pure pace since 2009 in Las Vegas.
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Ferrari announced earlier this month that Hamilton is to work with a new race engineer for F1 2026 after a change of role for Adami, who is to work with the team’s junior academy and TPC operation going forward.
Hamilton, who carried out the first laps with the new SF-26 car in a shakedown at Fiorano on Friday, is yet to publicly acknowledge his split from Adami.
After cutting a downbeat figure at the end of last season, Hamilton says he is “massively excited” about F1 2026 after making unspecified changes over the winter break, claiming that the team “feels refreshed.”
He said after Ferrari’s shakedown: “If you probably look at all my other interviews all the other years, I’d never say that I get excited.
“But I’m massively excited and I think that’s OK to say that.
“I’m excited for new beginnings. It’s been such a focus on resetting, having a good break.
“Even though it was the shortest one we’ve ever had, it was just what was needed.
“I think just undoing [certain things], learning new patterns and undoing patterns and removing things that don’t serve me or bring the right energy and making sure you’re just showing up in the right way.
“So I’m excited about the first test. Obviously, today [shakedown] I don’t get to push it, but it feels cool at Fiorano.
“But obviously next week we will start to try and stretch the legs and see what this new generation of car is going to bring to to all of us.
“And then it’s unknown what other people have, what cars, what tricks that other people may or may not have and what concepts, all those sorts of things.
“I think, for us, just keeping our heads down and focusing on our job.
“But the team feels refreshed and so much work from so many different departments here, it’s awesome to see.
“So we’re going to take this energy and just take it one day at a time.”
Hamilton’s latest comments echo his words in a social media post to mark his 41st birthday earlier this month, before Ferrari announced Adami’s change of status.
The former Mercedes driver admitted 2025 had been “a very draining year” before declaring that “the time for change is now.”
He added: “Starting new routines, leaving behind unwanted patterns and working on growth.
“Let go of things that don’t serve you. This can take time. There will be things you can’t get rid of immediately, but it starts with the first step.”
PlanetF1.com understands that Leclerc’s engineer, Bryan Bozzi, is also managing Hamilton at the opening pre-season test of F1 2026, which begins in Barcelona today.
It emerged on Sunday that Michel-Grosjean, formerly of McLaren, is the man most likely to take Adami’s place on the Ferrari pit wall.
Michel-Grosjean served as Oscar Piastri’s lead trackside performance engineer in F1 2025 before leaving McLaren at the end of last year.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he is currently on a career break ahead of taking up his next post.
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