Lewis Hamilton race engineer candidate named in Ferrari 'raid' on McLaren

A fresh candidate has been named as a potential replacement for Riccardo Adami, the former Ferrari race engineer of F1 legend Lewis Hamilton.

Just weeks into 2026, the Scuderia announced Adami would not be staying by Hamilton's side for the upcoming season, an outcome the seven-time champion had hinted at following a dire maiden campaign in red.

The 41-year-old's move to Maranello soon fell flat in 2025 and come the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, he was yet to have made it onto a grand prix podium.

To make matters worse, the Brit did not appear to gel with his new race engineer and now, the Italian will instead move into a new role as Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and Test Previous Cars Manager.

So who will Hamilton be relying on over team radio in the first year of F1's new regulations?

Italian media name Ferrari's McLaren target

Since the news of Adami's exit, it has been confirmed that Charles Leclerc's engineer Bryan Bozzi will assist Hamilton for this week's private shakedown tests in Barcelona, with Kimi Raikkonen's former engineer Carlo Santi is also rumoured to be playing a role.

Bozzi will remain as Leclerc's race engineer when the season officially kicks off in March, but a full-time replacement is yet to be announced for Adami.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera previously reported that the candidate Ferrari had their eye on was currently in place at McLaren, though no name was given.

Now, Italian media have revealed that Hamilton's potential new ally could be Cedric Michel-Grosjean, a McLaren engineer who played an instrumental role in returning the papaya squad to the top of the standings.

A report from AutoRacer.it claimed: "There is no mystery or indecision; Ferrari is simply waiting for the new track engineer to complete what is a limited but still binding gardening period.

"AutoRacer can confirm that, as anticipated by Corriere, the new trackside engineer could come from McLaren and would be Cedric Michel-Grosjean, who until a few weeks ago held the role of Lead Trackside Performance Engineer, which was the culmination of an eight-year training period at McLaren."

Having started as a Racing Technology Intern in 2017, Michel-Grosjean worked all the way up to Lead Trackside Performance Engineer, the role he held from January 2025 until December 2025.

In the appointment, he was responsible for Oscar Piastri’s car performance optimisation and driving development, and though he is yet to work directly as an F1 race engineer, he could be well placed to move into the role with Hamilton having gained vital experience providing support in racing and testing events with McLaren across the 2025 season.

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