Lewis Hamilton’s new race engineer? Ex-McLaren star ‘Ferrari-bound’ in 2026

The ex-McLaren F1 engineer tipped to become Lewis Hamilton's new race engineer is believed to be 'Ferrari-bound' in 2026.

Prior to pre-season testing, Ferrari announced Hamilton's race engineer Riccardo Adami would be stepping down after a tumultuous first campaign between the pair over the airwaves.

With the shakedown in Barcelona already underway, Ferrari are yet to confirm Hamilton's new engineer, but one name has popped up as a potential candidate—Cedric Michel-Grosjean.

During Sky Sports' Barcelona testing show after the first day of the shakedown, Ted Kravitz and Craig Slater revealed that, although Grosjean has not been confirmed as part of Hamilton's camp, the former McLaren engineer is in fact 'Ferrari-bound'.

"We're talking about Cedric Michel-Grosjean. He was a performance engineer at McLaren, left the company in December, is on gardening leave at the moment. I understand he is Ferrari-bound," Slater explained.

The Sky Sports news reporter then continued: "Is he going to be Lewis Hamilton's race engineer, though? He has never been a race engineer within Formula 1. A good numbers guy, he was able to marry the numbers to Oscar Piastri last season, apparently, very effectively, so someone that could work in that area.

"But quite a step, isn't it, if he does get that job, to have never been a race engineer? For your first job to be with the seven-time world champion under a new ruleset at Ferrari, but let's watch this space. No confirmation from Ferrari that it will be him."

Kravitz then confirmed that Charles Leclerc's race engineer, Bryan Bozzi, will engineer Hamilton's car in Barcelona, and Ferrari hope by Bahrain test one or two, that the champion will have a new engineer.

Who is Cedric Michel-Grosjean?

Grosjean has nearly nine years worth of experience at McLaren, starting out as a racing technology intern and later a strategy volunteer in 2017, before becoming a data scientist.

In 2018, he then became a trackside car performance engineer, working his way up to become senior trackside car performance engineer in 2023 where he was 'instrumental in McLaren's return to the top of Formula 1'.

That same year, Grosjean became responsible for Piastri's car performance optimisation and driving development. He continued his work on Piastri's side of the garage during his 2025 title fight, promoted to lead trackside performance engineer.

Here he worked on the 'configuration and tuning of the differential, brake balance, engine braking and toggles throughout an event, working with Oscar and the race engineer to identify and resolve handling as well as driving opportunities.'

Grosjean also credits himself with having contributed to 'seven victories and sixteen podiums during the 2025 season and winning the 2025 constructors’ championship for the second time in a row.'

READ MORE: Verstappen wobbles as Barcelona outing ends with crash

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