Carlo Santi will remain as Lewis Hamilton\u2019s Ferrari race engineer when the F1 2026 season resumes at the Miami Grand Prix, PlanetF1.com has learned.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Carlo Santi to remain as Lewis Hamilton\u2019s race engineer for Miami Grand Prix<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n The seven-time world champion\u2019s 2025 was defined by a series of awkward exchanges with race engineer Riccardo Adami over team radio.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s former race engineer, returning to the pit wall after a stint in a factory-based role<\/p>\n Santi\u2019s 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\u2019s new permanent race engineer.<\/p>\n Go deeper: Lewis Hamilton\u2019s much-improved start to the F1 2026 season<\/p>\n Is Lewis Hamilton back? Not so fast<\/a><\/p>\n Who is Carlo Santi? Meet Lewis Hamilton\u2019s temporary Ferrari race engineer<\/a><\/p>\n Michel-Grosjean joined Ferrari earlier this year following his departure from McLaren, where he most recently worked as Oscar Piastri\u2019s lead trackside performance engineer, at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n Hamilton has enjoyed a much-improved start to the new season, claiming his first podium for Ferrari with third place at last month\u2019s Chinese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n With a five-week gap between Japan and Miami following the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix, F1\u2019s extended April break appeared to be the ideal time for Hamilton to start work with his new race engineer.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n It is understood that there is no defined timeline in place for Hamilton\u2019s changeover from Santi to Michel-Grosjean.<\/p>\n Speaking during pre-season testing in February, Hamilton warned that a mid-season change of race engineer could prove disruptive to his campaign.<\/p>\n He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: \u201cIt\u2019s actually quite a difficult period, because it [Santi\u2019s appointment] is not long term.<\/p>\n \u201cThe solution that I currently have, it\u2019s only going to be a few races.<\/p>\n \u201cSo early on into the season, it\u2019s going to be switching up again and I\u2019ll have to learn to work with someone new, so that\u2019s detrimental to me.<\/p>\n \u201cA 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.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it is the situation that I\u2019m faced with and I\u2019ll try and do the best I can.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the team is trying to do the best they can to make it as seamless as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n His latest outing comes ahead of Ferrari\u2019s filming day at Monza, the home of the Italian Grand Prix, on April 22.<\/p>\n As reported by PlanetF1.com earlier this month<\/a>, Ferrari is yet to use any of its two permitted filming days for the F1 2026 season.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s current offering limited to post-launch material from January.<\/p>\n The choice of Monza for Ferrari\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Hamilton identified Mercedes\u2019 straight-line speed as a significant factor behind the W17\u2019s current advantage<\/a>, claiming the Mercedes appears to have \u201ca bit more deployment\u201d and \u201cless de-rating at the end of the straights\u201d compared to rival teams.<\/p>\n Ferrari is expected to arrive at the Miami Grand Prix armed with a significant upgrade package.<\/p>\n The Scuderia had originally planned to take upgrades to the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was scheduled to take place tomorrow (April 12).<\/p>\n 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 \u201ca package and a half\u201d to Miami.<\/p>\n It remains to be seen whether Ferrari\u2019s rotating rear wing, which briefly returned in China after being sampled in pre-season testing, will return in Florida.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? 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