The Scuderia has been searching for the right race engineer for Hamilton for some time. After Riccardo Adami’s departure, Carlo Santi took over and remained in his role on the pit wall. It was never certain he would stay in that role long-term, but it was emphatically not a temporary solution.

However, the name of Cédric Michel-Grosjean had been circulating in the background for a while. The Frenchman worked at McLaren in recent years as Lead Trackside Performance Engineer and collaborated with, among others, Oscar Piastri. He left the British team at the end of last year, after which his next step remained unclear for a long time. It is now clear what that next step has become.

GPblog understands that Michel-Grosjean has joined Ferrari and is currently finding his footing within the team. He may take over the role of race engineer later in the season, but when that moment will come—and whether a switch could already happen in Miami—is unknown. For now, he is focusing on integrating into the team, and Santi remains Hamilton’s current race engineer.

The uncertainty over the division of roles was already present during pre-season testing in Barcelona. At that time, Santi was deployed with possible support in the background from Bryan Bozzi, Charles Leclerc’s race engineer.

Ferrari did not provide clarity about the long term during that period. In Bahrain, Santi was once again on the pit wall, where it was made clear that he is not seen as a temporary solution, but simply as Hamilton’s current race engineer.