Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari race engineer all but confirmed by LinkedIn clue

A fresh clue over the identity of Lewis Hamilton’s full-time race engineer at Ferrari has strengthened speculation that the team have poached a key figure from a rival F1 outfit.

After a series of tense radio exchanges highlighted a strained relationship between Hamilton and former engineer Riccardo Adami, Ferrari confirmed the seven-time world champion would have a new voice on the pit wall for the 2026 season.

Earlier this year, the Scuderia announced that Adami would step away from race engineering duties, moving into a role within the Ferrari Driver Academy and overseeing the team’s test and previous cars program, clearing the way for a reshuffle ahead of the new regulations.

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 his interim ally, the Brit revealed he will have to wait even longer to work with his new full-time engineer.

Rumoured Hamilton engineer shares career break

"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 often led to one name constantly popping up- 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 now, 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.

But after his exit from the papaya squad, Michel-Grosjean has seemingly confirmed his gardening leave and potentially a move to Italy, which could explain Hamilton's interim race engineer extending into the start of the season.

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.

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