Key Lewis Hamilton race engineer update ahead of Miami Grand Prix

Carlo Santi will remain as Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari race engineer when the F1 2026 season resumes at the Miami Grand Prix, PlanetF1.com has learned.

Hamilton endured a challenging first season with Ferrari in 2025, failing to score a podium finish across a campaign for the first time in his career.

Carlo Santi to remain as Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer for Miami Grand Prix

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The seven-time world champion’s 2025 was defined by a series of awkward exchanges with race engineer Riccardo Adami over team radio.

Ferrari announced in January that Hamilton would receive a new race engineer for 2025 after Adami was moved to a new role within the organisation with Santi, Kimi Raikkonen’s former race engineer, returning to the pit wall after a stint in a factory-based role

Santi’s return to race engineering duties is expected to be a short-term measure, with Cedric Michel-Grosjean widely named as the man most likely to become Hamilton’s new permanent race engineer.

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Michel-Grosjean joined Ferrari earlier this year following his departure from McLaren, where he most recently worked as Oscar Piastri’s lead trackside performance engineer, at the end of 2025.

Hamilton has enjoyed a much-improved start to the new season, claiming his first podium for Ferrari with third place at last month’s Chinese Grand Prix.

The 41-year-old also finished fourth at the opening round in Australia before coming home sixth in the recent Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

With a five-week gap between Japan and Miami following the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix, F1’s extended April break appeared to be the ideal time for Hamilton to start work with his new race engineer.

However, PlanetF1.com has learned from sources close to the situation that Santi will remain in place for the Miami Grand Prix on May 3.

It is understood that there is no defined timeline in place for Hamilton’s changeover from Santi to Michel-Grosjean.

Speaking during pre-season testing in February, Hamilton warned that a mid-season change of race engineer could prove disruptive to his campaign.

He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “It’s actually quite a difficult period, because it [Santi’s appointment] is not long term.

“The solution that I currently have, it’s only going to be a few races.

“So early on into the season, it’s going to be switching up again and I’ll have to learn to work with someone new, so that’s detrimental to me.

“A season [like 2026 is] where you want to arrive with people that have done multiple seasons, that have been through thick and thin and calm.

“But it is the situation that I’m faced with and I’ll try and do the best I can.

“I think the team is trying to do the best they can to make it as seamless as possible.”

Hamilton was back behind the wheel of the Ferrari SF-26 for the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix in a two-day Pirelli tyre test at Fiorano on Thursday and Friday.

His latest outing comes ahead of Ferrari’s filming day at Monza, the home of the Italian Grand Prix, on April 22.

As reported by PlanetF1.com earlier this month, Ferrari is yet to use any of its two permitted filming days for the F1 2026 season.

It is understood that the team is keen to carry out a filming day this month to produce more promotional content for its commercial partners, with Ferrari’s current offering limited to post-launch material from January.

The choice of Monza for Ferrari’s filming day is unlikely to be a coincidence with the so-called Temple of Speed among the most demanding circuits on the F1 2026 calendar in terms of energy management.

It is expected to provide an opportunity for Ferrari to further optimise its F1 2026 power unit as the team aims to bridge the gap to the dominant Mercedes team, which has won the opening three races of the new season.

Hamilton identified Mercedes’ straight-line speed as a significant factor behind the W17’s current advantage, claiming the Mercedes appears to have “a bit more deployment” and “less de-rating at the end of the straights” compared to rival teams.

Ferrari is expected to arrive at the Miami Grand Prix armed with a significant upgrade package.

The Scuderia had originally planned to take upgrades to the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was scheduled to take place tomorrow (April 12).

With Bahrain and Saudi Arabia dropping off the calendar, however, team principal Fred Vasseur recently hinted that Ferrari will take advantage of the extra development time to take “a package and a half” to Miami.

It remains to be seen whether Ferrari’s rotating rear wing, which briefly returned in China after being sampled in pre-season testing, will return in Florida.

Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher

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