Who is Lewis Hamilton’s new race engineer? LinkedIn clue reveals all

A new clue over who Lewis Hamilton's full-time race engineer could be at Ferrari this season has bolstered a theory of a switch from a rival F1 team.

Following one too many demonstrations of a testy relationship between Hamilton and former race engineer Riccardo Adami, Ferrari announced the seven-time champion would be getting a new voice in his ear during races for 2026.

At the start of the year, the Scuderia confirmed Adami would be moving into the role of Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and Test Previous Cars Manager, and not returning as Hamilton's race engineer.

Instead, the 41-year-old has been forced to adapt to a different engineer during the Barcelona shakedown and official pre-season tests.

In Bahrain this week, Hamilton took to the track with the help of Carlo Santi, who previously worked with Kimi Raikkonen during his time racing in red. But as Hamilton is just getting to know his interim ally, the Brit revealed he will have to wait even longer to work with his new full-time engineer.

F1 HEADLINES: Lewis Hamilton takes aim at new rules, FIA chief makes ‘courtroom’ plea

Rumoured Hamilton engineer shares career break

Speaking on day one of testing in Bahrain, Hamilton made the shock reveal that Ferrari wouldn't even be assigning him a new full-time race engineer in time for the first race of the season.

"It’s only going to be a few races [that Santi will act as an interim race engineer]. Early on into the season, it’s going to be switching up again, and I’m going to have to learn from someone and work with someone new," Hamilton said, sharing that such a disruption so early on in the campaign could be 'detrimental' for him.

Rumours over who could replace Adami permanently have circled back to former McLaren engineer Cedric Michel-Grosjean, and now, the man who used to work closely with Oscar Piastri has offered up the biggest clue yet via LinkedIn.

Michel-Grosjean was described as 'Ferrari-bound' by Sky Sports' Craig Slater last month, and the Frenchman has posted on his official LinkedIn account that he will be taking a career break to relocate.

His last F1 experience listed on the professional social media platform is 'Lead Trackside Performance Engineer' at McLaren, a role he held between January 2025 and December 2025.

What is gardening leave?

In F1, gardening leave is a period of time in which a former employee cannot go and work for a rival team, forcing them to carry out work which is not closely related to the development of the current car or F1 campaign for the remainder of their notice period.

It is in place as a way of preventing F1 team employees, especially engineers, from taking confidential information from their former team to their new employee, passing on tricks of the trade in the process.

This will often last for months to avoid any information a former employee may retain from remaining relevant by the time they officially start at their new place of work.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton team member announces switch to Aston Martin

Related