The start of the new F1 season is closing in fast, but Ferrari still hasn’t appointed a new race engineer for Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion parted ways with Riccardo Adami in January after a difficult working relationship in 2025. Hamilton calls it ‘detrimental’ that he hasn’t been able to build a rapport with a replacement, although team principal Fred Vasseur insists that one individual won’t make the difference for the Brit.
Lewis Hamilton fears he will begin the season on the back foot precisely because he hasn’t been able to work over the winter with a new — as yet unnamed — race engineer. “That is certainly detrimental for me,” he told the press in Bahrain. “You want to start a season with people who have worked with you for several years, who have been with you through thick and thin. I can’t do that now. But this is the situation I’m dealing with and I’ll do my best. The team is doing everything to make the transition as smooth as possible.”
Fred Vasseur, meanwhile, has urged the media not to exaggerate the situation. Asked about the impact of lacking a permanent race engineer, he downplayed the issue. “I think the collaboration between the pit team and Lewis (Hamilton, ed.) is very good,” he replied. “He is motivated, very confident and open to a new working relationship. I’m very positive; we will keep improving. The mindset is to perform better tomorrow than today.”
‘Stop this story’
“If there’s anything to improve, I’ll keep pushing for it,” Vasseur continued. “But Lewis is in a good place right now.” The assembled press, however, kept prodding about the issue around his race engineer. “Please stop this story,” the Ferrari team principal interrupted them. “With 22 cars in the paddock, six or seven new engineers are brought in every year. The same goes for team principals, by the way. After Toto (Wolff, ed.) I’m probably the longest-serving team principal. But an occasional change of the guard doesn’t mean the end of a team. Modern outfits now consist of around 1,500 people. So it’s not about one race engineer. In Formula 1 the team makes the difference, not one individual.”
During the test days Lewis Hamilton is temporarily relying on Carlo Santi, the former race engineer of Kimi Räikkönen. Reportedly Ferrari already has a clear replacement in mind: Cedric Michel-Grosjean. The Frenchman is currently active within Oscar Piastri‘s team at McLaren.
