The first race of the 2026 campaign is just weeks away

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has urged journalists to move on from questions surrounding Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer situation ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

The plea came after the seven-time world champion expressed concerns during last week’s Bahrain test that bringing in a new engineer partway through the campaign could harm his title prospects.

“Please stop with this story!” Vasseur snapped when faced with another query on the matter.

Hamilton had previously stated that his race engineer would change again within “a few races” of the season starting, warning that such disruption risks being “detrimental” to his efforts whilst vowing to “try and do the best I can.”

The 41-year-old endured a dismal debut campaign at Maranello in 2025, becoming the first season in his illustrious career where he failed to stand on the podium.

His maiden year with the Italian outfit was marked by numerous uncomfortable and strained communications with race engineer Riccardo Adami, who had previously partnered both Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz.

Last month, Ferrari confirmed that Hamilton would be assigned a different race engineer for the upcoming season, with Adami transitioning to an alternative position within the team’s structure.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has urged journalists to move on from questions surrounding Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer situation ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season

 | PA

The decision followed what observers noted were several awkward exchanges between driver and engineer throughout the troubled 2025 campaign.

Cedric Michel-Grosjean, who served as Oscar Piastri’s trackside performance engineer at McLaren, is widely anticipated to take on the role as Hamilton’s permanent race engineer.

Michel-Grosjean departed the Woking-based team at the conclusion of last season and has described himself as currently taking a career break, meaning his arrival at Ferrari is expected to be delayed by several weeks.

In the interim, Carlo Santi, who previously worked alongside Kimi Raikkonen, has been overseeing Hamilton during testing sessions.

Hamilton’s acknowledgement that another engineer change looms early in the season prompted some critics to suggest the British driver was already preparing excuses following his worst campaign to date.

Vasseur pushed back against the suggestion that Hamilton harbours concerns about the engineer transition affecting his performance, stating: “It’s not exactly the discussion that we had.”

The team principal emphasised that the working relationship between Hamilton and the pit wall crew has been positive, describing the driver as “high in confidence and very open to the relationship.”

Lewis Hamilton had a strained relationship with Riccardo Adami last season

 | PA

Vasseur also pointed out that personnel changes are commonplace across the grid, noting that approximately six or seven engineers switch roles annually among the 22 cars, alongside three or four team principal changes each year.

“The team today is something like 1,500 people. It’s not about one race engineer,” he said.

“In F1, it’s always about the team. It’s never about an individual.”

The first race of the new season will take place in Melbourne on March 8.