Chandhok raises alarm over Hamilton's missing Ferrari race engineer
Sky F1's Karun Chandhok has expressed concern that Lewis Hamilton is beginning pre-season testing without a dedicated race engineer at Ferrari, calling it a missed opportunity for vital winter bonding. The team reassigned his 2025 engineer and has yet to name a permanent replacement, with Charles Leclerc's engineer currently covering both cars.
Lewis Hamilton heads into the final pre-season test without a permanent race engineer at Ferrari, a situation Sky Sports F1's Karun Chandhok describes as "alarm bells ringing." The Scuderia reassigned Hamilton's 2025 engineer, Riccardo Adami, leaving the seven-time champion to share Charles Leclerc's engineer, Bryan Bozzi, during the Barcelona shakedown, with no official replacement named as testing begins.
Why it matters:
The driver-engineer relationship is one of the most critical and intimate partnerships in Formula 1, built on trust and unspoken understanding. For a driver of Hamilton's caliber joining a new team, missing the entire winter to build this bond represents a significant operational handicap before the season even starts, potentially impacting early performance and team integration.
The details:
- Ferrari confirmed earlier this month that Riccardo Adami, who worked with Sebastian Vettel before Hamilton, was moved to a role within the Ferrari Driver Academy after a reportedly tense season.
- With no successor appointed, Charles Leclerc's race engineer, Bryan Bozzi, is currently covering duties for both drivers during initial running.
- Chandhok expressed confusion over Ferrari's approach, stating the team had a full winter to facilitate bonding between Hamilton and a new engineer.
- He emphasized that strong relationships allow an engineer to "finish [the driver's] sentences" and proactively make changes, a synergy Hamilton enjoyed for years with Peter 'Bono' Bonnington at Mercedes.
- The analyst suggested Ferrari could have used simulator work or runs in a TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) car to accelerate the relationship-building process off-track.
- Integrating a new engineer into the wider team's engineering culture and meetings is another layer of complexity that now must be rushed.
What's next:
Ferrari has declined to comment on the timeline for an appointment. One name rumored in Italian media is Cedric Michel-Grosjean, formerly Oscar Piastri's lead trackside performance engineer at McLaren.
- However, Chandhok noted that bringing someone in at this late stage, requiring them to learn "the Ferrari way" as the season commences, is "a tall order."
- The pressure is now on Ferrari's management to resolve this key personnel gap swiftly, as any delay risks affecting Hamilton's crucial first season with the team and the stability of its garage operations.