Lewis Hamilton has now made a decision on the future of his Ferrari race engineer

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Lewis Hamilton has explained why he doesn’t want to make any further changes to his engineering team at Ferrari.

During the off-season, it was announced that Hamilton’s 2025 engineer Riccardo Adami would move to a different role in the team. The pair never gelled during his debut season.

Hamilton has been working with Carlo Santi, Kimi Raikkonen’s former race engineer, at the start of 2026. Santi was originally seen as an interim appointment.

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‘I don’t want to change my team,’ Lewis Hamilton says

Ferrari signed Cedric-Michel Grosjean from McLaren but his arrival at the team was delayed as he completed a period of gardening leave.

The initial expectation was that Grosjean would take over from Santi once he was settled.

Hamilton said during pre-season testing, via ESPN: “It’s actually quite a difficult period because it’s not long-term – the solution that I currently have is only going to be a few races.

“And so early on into the season, it’s going to be switching up again and I’ll have to learn to work with someone new.”

The seven-time world champion called that situation ‘detrimental’, but plans now seem to have changed.

Hamilton made a positive start to 2026 with a P4 in Australia and a first Ferrari podium in China, but he could only manage sixth in Japan and Miami.

However, Hamilton chose not to use the Ferrari simulator ahead of the Canadian GP, a move that he feels is paying off. He’s optimistic that he has finally found an arrangement that works for him.

“Honestly, for me, my engineering team is now just where I need it, and we’ve finally got the car this weekend in a place where I really feel like myself,” he told F1TV after qualifying.

“I really hope that that continues. I don’t want to change up my team. We just need to keep on working and do what works for me.”

Santi is now likely to stay on permanently, with Grosjean, who was part of Oscar Piastri’s team at McLaren, in a support role.

Hamilton qualified fifth for both the Sprint and the main Grand Prix in Montreal, outpacing teammate Charles Leclerc in each session. It’s only the sixth time he has outpaced Leclerc on a Saturday in 29 attempts.