Racing
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Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari’s switch to Carlo Santi as his race engineer has been central to his improved 2026 form, with the seven-time world champion calling Santi his “Italian Bono” after two podiums already this season in China and Canada.
Speaking ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton framed his revival as the product of winter changes behind the scenes rather than a sudden jump in pace. He said the driver-engineer relationship is “very, very important” and described Santi as the kind of calm, experienced voice he had been missing in his first year at Ferrari. “I do feel like Carlo is like my ‘Italian Bono’,” Hamilton said. “He’s an older guy that’s been around the block. He’s very calm.”
Hamilton made clear he was not blaming former race engineer Riccardo Adami for his difficult 2025 season. He said they had “a really good relationship” and called Adami “a lovely guy,” but added that learning a driver’s needs takes time. He explained that an engineer has to understand detailed feedback on balance through each phase of a corner, whether that is entry, mid-corner and exit or an even finer breakdown, in order to identify what the driver is fighting.
That is where Hamilton believes the new pairing has made the difference. He said he and Santi are able to work through problems at a deeper technical level, and that the understanding between them is now feeding directly into what he feels from the car on track.
Hamilton also credited team principal Fred Vasseur for helping reshape Ferrari’s engineering operation around him after what he called a “very, very tough” first part of 2025. “What most people don’t realise is the work that goes on that you have to do in the background,” he said. “Fred has been great in working with me and helping me, for example, with engineers. The engineer set-up is a million times better than it was last year.”
He said that progress is now showing in the car itself. Hamilton pointed to simulator work from last year and said some of the changes he had been asking for have since arrived, including on the suspension. He added that he is now seeing “the fruits of that through driving the car.”
For Hamilton, that makes Ferrari’s early-season improvement a sign that the team has finally started to put the right pieces in place around him after a disappointing debut year. He said he has been fully committed to that process and to helping steer the project in the right direction, even if he does not see the turnaround as complete.
“We still have a long way to go and we still need to improve in some areas,” Hamilton said, “but I think we’re on the right path.”