The Ferrari F1 howler that could disrupt Lewis Hamilton's preparations

Sam Cook Sunday 22 February 2026 23:00

A howler from Ferrari on the Lewis Hamilton side of the garage could disrupt the 'harmonious' feel within the team, according to a former F1 driver.

Hamilton's lightning fast practice start during Bahrain pre-season testing, coupled with Charles Leclerc's blistering lap time on the final day of testing, has ensured that Ferrari are entering the 2026 season full of positivity.

Hamilton has said that he is 'in a much better place', while the 2026 regulation changes are giving him a different generation of car to race in.

However, former F1 driver Ivan Capelli has said that the lack of a race engineer for Hamilton will be bugging the Brit before the season, and might just disrupt what he described as a 'harmonious' and 'calm' feel within the team and their car design.

Ferrari opted to replace Hamilton's 2025 race engineer Riccardo Adami at the start of 2026 following a difficult first year spent together in 2025, in which a number of tense radio messages between the two were recorded.

Asked if the atmosphere at Ferrari seemed positive, he replied: "It was certainly calm. The tests gathered all the information they hoped for, completing the programmes without any problems or hitches."

Then asked about Hamilton's lack of a race engineer, Capelli went on to speak from experience: "In 1992, I had a similar situation: I met my track engineer on the plane on the way to our first race," the Italian continued. "This doesn't help: rapport with your engineer has to be built up over time, and only then can you count on automatic responses and mutual trust in the stressful moments of competition.

"I am surprised that in recent months they have not yet managed to find someone suitable to fill this role in time for Hamilton."

Who is Hamilton's race engineer in F1 2026?

While nobody has been permanently hired for the role as Hamilton's race engineer, they will be looking to get somebody in the door pretty sharpish, with the season-opening Australian Grand Prix fast approaching.

It's thought that Santi will continue as an interim solution for that race, and a few of the opening races of the season, but then a new permanent hire will take over.

That's rumoured to be former McLaren engineer Cedric Michel-Grosjean, who recently took to LinkedIn to say that he was taking a break while he 'relocated', with this thought to be potentially a move to Maranello.

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, and he could well be in a period of gardening leave, hence the need for Hamilton to have an interim race engineer in Santi.

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari pre-season testing Riccardo Adami