Lewis Hamilton will have a new race engineer for his second season as a Ferrari driver and time is running out to make the appointment.

Lewis Hamilton will face changes at Ferrari in 2026 (Image: Getty)
Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton will go into the 2026 Formula 1 season with a big change behind the scenes. Former world champion Hamilton will have a new race engineer in his corner after a first season with Riccardo Adami didn’t go to plan. Hamilton’s debut Ferrari campaign saw him finish sixth in the drivers’ standings, more than 80 points behind team-mate Charles Leclerc and over 250 adrift of world champion Lando Norris. While no one is being directly blamed for the lowly finish, with Hamilton failing to secure a single podium GP finish, there is an agreement that a change will take place.

While there is no appointment at the time of writing, Ferrari are keen to get things in place sooner rather than later, with Leclerc’s engineer Bryan Bozzi working on both cars until the hire is made. The goal is to have someone installed before testing in Bahrain in early February, per Sky Sports, giving Hamilton the best chance to get his season off to a fast start. One of the names to have been mentioned is Cedric Michel-Grosjean, who worked with Oscar Piastri at McLaren before departing at the end of the 2025 season and is expected to join the Scuderia once his gardening leave ends. Whoever is chosen, though, there’s a growing understanding of what is needed for things to click with Hamilton.

“I’m surprised it probably didn’t happen a bit earlier, really, judging by all the things that were going on last year,” Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle said earlier this month. “Lewis needs to go there with a team so that at least they understand ‘Lewis speak’ when he’s inside the car, what it all means, and to interpret what Lewis really needs behind the wheel.

“Just listening to the radio and watching the performance, although they obviously put a varnish on it through last season, something needed to change.” Despite the need for a change, it’s not about apportioning blame for Hamilton, who wants to foster a sense of togetherness with his colleagues.

“I don’t feel like there’s a blame culture here,” Hamilton said. “We’re all in the same boat. Ultimately we all have to take accountability and responsibility, absolutely all of us, and every single one of us have to play our part. I firmly believe in the decision I made to come here. I back my team 100% and I back myself still 100%.”

One thing which will be required, though, is a clear line of communication. That’s something which was sorely lacking between Hamilton and Adami, making the next move crucial.

Hamilton formed one of the strongest driver-engineer relationships with Pete Bonnington at Mercedes (Image: Getty)

Hamilton has been the first to admit that his character makes it vital that whoever comes on board needs to be able to put up with his sometimes abrasive character. Pete ‘Bono’ Bonnington was his engineer at Mercedes, where the Brit won six of his seven world titles, and the closeness between the pair was key.

“I’m incredibly grateful for Bono,” Hamilton said in 2023. “I’ve had an amazing journey with him, I think we’ve got one of the longest, if not the longest-standing driver-engineer partnerships that there’s been, and he’s been hugely integral to my success.

“I think he’s probably one of the few people that can truly stand me, I would say, on the good and bad days – except for Roscoe (Hamilton’s dog, who died in 2025) – and how calm he’s able to be throughout a race, and how he’s able to help guide and help me navigate through a race. I don’t think there’s many people that can do that.”

The new person in Hamilton’s ear for 2026, and potentially beyond, therefore knows they’ll be required to provide a clear line of communication in a way the 41-year-old can understand, while remaining a cool head and not pointing the finger of blame when tensions run high.