Key Ferrari decision for Lewis Hamilton sets ‘alarm bells’ ringing

The unresolved situation surrounding Lewis Hamilton’s new Ferrari race engineer has concerned former F1 driver Karun Chandhok.

Ferrari confirmed earlier this month that Riccardo Adami had been moved into a new role within the team and that Hamilton would have a new race engineer for the 2026 season after a difficult maiden campaign in red for the seven-time world champion.

There has been plenty of speculation surrounding who Hamilton’s next race engineer could be. In the meantime, Charles Leclerc’s race engineer Bryan Bozzi is looking after both Ferrari drivers.

Ferrari’s decision has baffled ex-F1 driver turned pundit Chandhok.

“The other thing that’s slightly ringing alarm bells for me is his engineer situation,” Chandhok told Sky Sports F1’s Barcelona Shakedown show at the end of the second day.

“As far as we understand, Bryan Bozzi was running the car today, including for Lewis. That confuses me, if I’m perfectly honest because that relationship between driver and race engineer is so, so important.

“They haven’t created a situation where Lewis is building that relationship over the winter. I would have loved to see him doing simulator days, go and get a TPC car.

“You need to integrate that person into the engineering set up of the race team. The public hear the driver-engineer discussion, but that’s just a microcosm of the bigger conversations happening in that engineering office.

“To me, I’m slightly confused that as we sit here, we’ve already started testing, and that bonding and relationship-building hasn’t started, off the back of a season which was not good.”

Who will be Hamilton’s next race engineer?

There were early reports that Hamilton’s current performance engineer, Luca Diella, would step up into the role, however a new name has since emerged in the frame.

Recent McLaren departee Cedric-Michel Grosjean has been linked with a move to Ferrari to start working alongside Hamilton.

Reports in Italian media have claimed Ferrari are waiting on the arrival of a “new figure from McLaren”.

"He’s on gardening leave at the moment. I understand that he is Ferrari-bound,” Sky Sports News reporter Craig Slater said on Monday.

"Is he going to be Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer though? He has never been a race engineer in F1. A good numbers guy, was able to marry the numbers for Oscar Piastri last season very effectively.

"But quite a step, if he does get that job, having never been a senior race engineer for your first job to be with a seven-time world champion, under a new rule set, at Ferrari.

"Let’s watch this space – no confirmation from Ferrari that it will be him.”

But Chandhok is not convinced it would be the right move, given Grosjean’s lack of experience in a race engineer role.

“That’s a tall order for Cedric-Grosjean, if it is true,” he stressed.

“To join a new team, after testing has already started, not having spent the winter learning the Ferrari way, because every team has a different way of doing things. That’s an alarm bell for me, if I was Lewis.”