Racing
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Lewis Hamilton said Ferrari race engineer Carlo Santi helped reignite his passion for driving after the pair’s instant connection underpinned his breakthrough first win for the team at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s victory followed a clear upturn in form, with two consecutive second-place finishes before Barcelona, and he said the trust he has built with Santi has been central to that turnaround. After a difficult first season with Ferrari in 2025, when awkward radio exchanges with Riccardo Adami became a recurring theme, Hamilton now says he has recovered a feeling he had been missing.
Ferrari moved Adami away after that troubled debut campaign, with Santi stepping in ahead of 2026 despite initially being presented as a temporary solution. The relationship clicked immediately, Hamilton said, and that made sharing the podium with Santi after the win especially significant.
“It was great to have him up there,” Hamilton said after the race. “We didn’t know each other, we’d never spoken and I didn’t know anything about him. And we met and I think got on straight away.”
Hamilton framed that bond in the context of the long-term partnership he had with Peter Bonnington at Mercedes, the race engineer who was with him for much of his championship success. “It’s great to be able to connect with an engineer other than what I used to have,” Hamilton said, before adding that Santi had restored something deeper than just smooth communication. “I like to think that this has probably reignited the love that he has as being an engineer as he has done for me as a driver.”
He also described Santi as a quiet presence whose emotions are not always obvious, but said the human side of the partnership matters to his performance. Hamilton said he was especially happy to share the podium moment with him because the relationship has helped create a healthier environment, one that has allowed him to focus more fully on driving.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur acknowledged that the Hamilton-Santi pairing has worked well, but pushed back on any attempt to make Barcelona the story of one individual. “I don’t want to put Carlo in front or whatever,” Vasseur said. “I think it’s a huge effort from everybody. Carlo is part of the process and the fit between Carlo and Lewis is a good one.”
Vasseur added that Ferrari’s progress had to be viewed collectively rather than through one relationship alone. “If we are getting results, it’s because collectively we are doing a good job,” he said, even as Hamilton’s comments made clear that the renewed trust on his side of the garage has become a meaningful part of Ferrari’s competitive recovery.