Hamilton and Carlo Santi: Ferrari's Interim Engineer Goes Permanent Ahead of Austrian GP
Lewis Hamilton entered 2026 with Carlo Santi as a temporary stand-in race engineer at Ferrari, following Riccardo Adami's move to the Ferrari Driver Academy. What began as a short-term fix quickly became permanent after the pair built an immediate connection, a run of strong results, and Hamilton's first Ferrari victory in Barcelona.
From stop-gap to cornerstone
When Ferrari confirmed on 16 January 2026 that Riccardo Adami would leave his role on the pit wall, the team moved him into a position overseeing the Ferrari Driver Academy and its Testing of Previous Cars programme. [1] That announcement arrived just ten days before the opening pre-season test in Bahrain, leaving little time to find a replacement. [4] The solution Ferrari landed on was Carlo Santi, a long-serving Maranello engineer who had been working in a factory-based remote engineering capacity since 2019. [7]
Who is Carlo Santi?
Santi studied mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, specialising in vehicle dynamics, and subsequently completed a scholarship project at the Fiat Research Centre in Turin before joining Ferrari's vehicle dynamics department. [4] He later joined the Formula 1 team as a model engineer on Ferrari's first driver-in-the-loop simulator. [4] In 2016 he became Kimi Raikkonen's performance engineer, and for 2018 he was promoted to the Finn's full race engineer. [7] Santi engineered Raikkonen to his 21st and final Formula 1 victory at the 2018 United States Grand Prix, joining his driver on the podium in Austin. [7] After Raikkonen's departure at the end of that season, Santi moved into the remote garage at Maranello, providing live strategy support to track-side performance engineers across race weekends. [4]
An interim role that refused to stay temporary
Hamilton himself acknowledged during pre-season testing that Santi's appointment was only meant to last "a few races" before another engineer took over. [4] The original plan involved Cedric Michel-Grosjean, who had departed McLaren after serving as Oscar Piastri's lead trackside performance engineer, stepping in once his gardening leave was resolved. [4] However, the pairing of Hamilton and Santi produced immediate on-track dividends. Hamilton collected his first Ferrari podium with third place in China, then backed it up with consecutive second-place finishes in Canada and Monaco. [7] At the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, Hamilton converted his first Ferrari front-row start into victory, marking the Scuderia's first win in nearly two years. [3]
"My Italian Bono"
Formula1.com reported that Hamilton has struck up "a strong working relationship" with Santi across the opening rounds of the season. [2] Hamilton drew a direct comparison between Santi and his longtime Mercedes race engineer Peter Bonnington, calling the Italian his "Italian Bono." [2] After Barcelona, Ferrari confirmed the partnership would continue, with a spokesperson telling BBC Sport: "Carlo and Lewis are working pretty well together and there's no plan to replace him." [6]
Into Austria
Related reading
- [1]Lewis Hamilton to get new race engineer for 2026 season as Riccardo Adami moves to Ferrari Academy role (formula1). Accessed 2026-06-24.
- [2]'My Italian Bono' – Who is Carlo Santi and how is he helping Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari? (formula1). Accessed 2026-06-24.
- [3]Lewis Hamilton lauds connection with new Ferrari engineer Carlo Santi (espn). Accessed 2026-06-24.
- [4]Who is Carlo Santi? Meet Lewis Hamilton's temporary Ferrari race engineer (planetf1). Accessed 2026-06-24.
- [5]Lewis Hamilton gives verdict on new race engineer after off-season upheaval (planetf1). Accessed 2026-06-24.
- [6]Future of Lewis Hamilton's F1 race engineer Carlo Santi confirmed by Ferrari (crash). Accessed 2026-06-24.
- [7]Who is Carlo Santi? The voice behind Lewis Hamilton's first Ferrari F1 triumph (crash). Accessed 2026-06-24.
- [8]Hamilton reveals race engineer Santi 'reignited' his love of F1 after first Ferrari win (gpblog). Accessed 2026-06-24.