Once the season started, a change of race engineer for Lewis Hamilton had been planned, although according to Frederic Vasseur things may have changed, at least for now.
The 2026 season represents a year of major changes for Lewis Hamilton. After the difficulties experienced last year, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion is trying to shape the team around his working style in an attempt to launch a serious challenge for his eighth world title. At the beginning of the season the arrival of the race engineer originally intended to work with the British driver had been scheduled, although Fred Vasseur’s recent comments suggest that the plan may have evolved, at least temporarily.
At the start of this season we have seen a Lewis Hamilton who appears completely different compared to the one from last year. During the 2025 Formula 1 campaign the British driver seemed somewhat lost and endured one of the most complicated seasons of his career. However, the arrival of the new generation of cars together with the proactive attitude shown by the seven-time world champion has effectively revealed a rejuvenated version of Hamilton.
The British driver finished the race in Australia very close to Charles Leclerc, and his race pace was even slightly better than that of the Monegasque Ferrari teammate. This result offers encouraging signs for the remainder of the season, and the Chinese Grand Prix could once again suit the British driver, considering that last year he secured his first victory in Ferrari colours during the Sprint race.
The team principal on a possible race engineer change for the #44
During a recent interview with AutoHebdo.fr, Frederic Vasseur also addressed the situation regarding Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer. Ferrari did not officially announce the new figure at the end of the previous season because the candidate was still completing a gardening leave period at McLaren. The person in question is the French engineer Cédric Michel-Grosjean, who joined the team during the Australian Grand Prix weekend, although he did not take on the role of Hamilton’s race engineer.
This was Fred Vasseur’s response when asked about a possible change within the #44 garage: “Not for the moment. He joins the team initially. I’m not saying it won’t happen, because I think he is a good recruit and that he could get along well with Lewis, so it could become the plan. But today Carlo Santi is taking care of Lewis and it is going very well. We will take the decision together, but there is no urgency.”
The decision to continue working with Carlo Santi may also be linked to the fact that a positive working relationship seems to have quickly developed between him and Hamilton. During the Australian Grand Prix we heard the Italian engineer encouraging the #44 while he was fighting for a podium position with Charles Leclerc, and his words reminded many observers of Hamilton’s previous relationship with Peter Bonnington, who is now the race engineer of Kimi Antonelli.
Therefore, the seven-time world champion may also have pushed to continue working with Santi for the time being, even though it will ultimately depend on how the situation evolves during the upcoming races of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
The chemistry between a driver and their race engineer is often the “invisible” tenth of a second that decides championships. By keeping Carlo Santi in Hamilton’s ear for the Chinese Grand Prix, Ferrari is opting for stability during a critical phase of the 2026 development race. While Cédric Michel-Grosjean brings valuable external expertise from his time at Woking, the Briton’s performance in Melbourne proved that the current duo is already operating at a high level. If the #44 continues to show pace that rivals Leclerc’s, Fred Vasseur might find that the “temporary” solution with Santi is actually the winning formula. As the circus moves to Shanghai, the focus remains on the track, but the internal dynamics of the Ferrari garage will be just as vital to their title hopes.
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