Formula 1 News: Hamilton awaits engineer arrival from McLaren

(GMM) Speculation around Lewis Hamilton’s (pictured) new race engineer at Ferrari is beginning to firm up, with multiple reports suggesting a short-term solution for the opening 2026 tests while the Scuderia waits for a longer-term appointment to become available.

Italian media report that Hamilton will work with Carlo Santi during this week’s group test in Barcelona. Santi, who previously served as race engineer to Kimi Raikkonen in 2018, is expected to be supported during testing by Brian Bozzi, who normally works with Charles Leclerc.

However, this arrangement is reportedly only temporary. It is believed that Cedric Michel-Grosjean, formerly a lead performance engineer at McLaren, is expected to join Ferrari once his gardening leave concludes. Michel-Grosjean worked at McLaren for almost nine years and was part of the engineering group supporting Oscar Piastri in 2023.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera adds that Hamilton’s race engineer position remains formally vacant, with the Barcelona test seen as a stopgap while Ferrari finalizes its structure around the seven-time world champion.

Hamilton struck an upbeat tone after Ferrari’s Fiorano shakedown of the SF-26.

“If you look at my interviews from other years, I would never say I was excited, but now I am very excited, looking forward to a new beginning,” the Briton said.

“I’ve had to focus a lot to be able to reset, to have a good break, even though it’s been the shortest we’ve ever had. I’m looking forward to the first test. It’s great to be with Ferrari.”

Footage from Fiorano showed Hamilton’s car being pushed back to the garage after a short run, but team boss Fred Vasseur dismissed any suggestion of trouble.

“The test went without a problem, exactly as we had imagined,” Vasseur said.

Former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, who knows Hamilton well from his time at Mercedes, believes the pieces could still fall into place for the 41-year-old.

“If he gets some incentives and if he sees that there’s a chance, then I think we’ll see Lewis at his best,” he said.