Lewis Hamilton revealed his Ferrari race engineer will change for a second time early in the 2026 season, saying on Wednesday that he expects the lack of stability to be “detrimental.”
After a difficult first season at Ferrari, Hamilton split with his first race engineer, Riccardo Adami, at the end of last year.
Adami was replaced by Carlo Santi — a long-standing Ferrari engineer who previously worked with Kimi Raikkonen — for the opening preseason test of the year in Barcelona, but Santi will only remain in the role on an interim basis.
Ferrari would not confirm the name of Santi’s long-term replacement when asked by ESPN, but Hamilton said the plan was to bring in a new engineer after “a few” races.
“Well, firstly, with Riccardo, it’s obviously a very difficult decision to make,” Hamilton said. “I’m really, really grateful for all the effort he put in last year and his patience. It was a difficult year for us all.
“It’s actually quite a difficult period because it’s not long-term — the solution that I currently have is only going to be a few races. And 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, too.”
New power unit regulations this season are expected to make the relationship between drivers and their engineers even more important in 2026.
Energy management around the lap is expected to be key to performance and the deployment of the energy through the use of the “boost” and “overtake” modes will be critical in wheel-to-wheel battles.
“It’s a season where you want to arrive with people that have done multiple seasons, that have been through thick and thin and calm,” Hamilton said.
“But it is the situation that I’m faced with and I’ll try and do the best I can. The team is trying to do the best they can to help make it as seamless as possible.”
The first of two preseason tests are underway in Bahrain this week, with the opening round of the season set for March 8 in Australia.
