RacingFerrari will keep Carlo Santi as Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer for the Miami Grand Prix on May 3, with no handover date set for a permanent replacement, PlanetF1.com has learned. Despite a five-week window that looked perfect for a switch, Hamilton will again have a stop-gap voice in his ear in Miami.
This interim setup has been in place since pre-season. After a tough 2025 that PlanetF1.com described as marked by awkward radio exchanges with then engineer Riccardo Adami, Ferrari moved Adami to a new role and reshaped Hamilton’s side of the garage. Hamilton first shook down with Charles Leclerc’s race engineer Bryan Bozzi in Barcelona, then Santi, Kimi Räikkönen’s former race engineer, stepped in from testing and has stayed on the pit wall since.
Cedric Michel-Grosjean is the expected long-term answer but remains in the wings. PlanetF1.com reports Michel-Grosjean joined Ferrari this year after leaving McLaren, where he served as Oscar Piastri’s lead trackside performance engineer at the end of 2025. He has been involved since the season opener in Australia, according to PlanetF1.com, yet has not been officially placed into Hamilton’s race-engineer role.
The timing suggested Miami could be the moment to change. The cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races created a five-week break after Suzuka. PlanetF1.com notes Ferrari chose continuity instead, even as Hamilton completed a two-day Pirelli tire test at Fiorano and the team prepared an upgrade package for Miami.
Hamilton warned before the season that a mid-year changeover would not be easy. “It’s actually quite a difficult period, because it [Santi’s appointment] is not long term… The solution that I currently have, it’s only going to be a few races… so that’s detrimental to me,” Hamilton said, the Ferrari driver speaking in a media session during pre-season testing in Bahrain in February to PlanetF1.com and other outlets. He added: “I think the team is trying to do the best they can to make it as seamless as possible” in the same media session.
Form on track has trended up. PlanetF1.com notes Hamilton’s 2026 start has improved, with fourth in Australia, third in China for his first Ferrari podium, and sixth at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. With that run and no firm date for a handover, Ferrari will stick with Santi in Miami while Michel-Grosjean continues to work in the background.