Ferrari are reportedly prepared to raid one of their biggest rivals in order to secure the best race engineer for Lewis Hamilton.
The 2026 Formula One season is now just over five weeks away and excitement is building as several new regulations have forced teams to completely change their cars ahead of the upcoming campaign.
Not only will these new rules as providing entertainment for fans looking for a change, they will also provide a fresh start for several drivers that had a disappointing 2025 season.
Perhaps more than any other driver, this is the case for F1 legend Hamilton who had the worst season of his career during his first campaign with new team Ferrari.
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And it appears that Ferrari are willing to make a massive move to help ensure that Hamilton's second season in red is significantly better.
Throughout the 2025 season, Hamilton was often heard struggling with Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami, a relationship that certainly failed to match the British driver's closeness with Peter Bonnington, his race engineer during his 12-year stint with Mercedes.
Because of this, just weeks into 2026, Ferrari confirmed that Adami would not remain in the role for the upcoming season, with the Italian instead moving into a new role as Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and Test Previous Cars Manager.
The decision immediately raised questions over who could be selected as Hamilton's new race engineer, with teammate Charles Leclerc's engineer Bryan Bozzi and Carlo Santi, who previously worked with Kimi Raikkonen, set to assist the seven-time champion in the meantime.
According to a report from Italian outlet AutoRacer.it, Ferrari are currently waiting for their new race engineer to finish a gardening period before confirming his appointment.
The report goes on to reveal that they believe that this new engineer could be Cedric Michel-Grosjean, who has worked at McLaren for several years in the role of Lead Trackside Performance Engineer, following an eight-year training period at the team.
Although Michel-Grosjean is yet to work directly as an F1 race engineer, he was directly responsible for Oscar Piastri’s car performance optimisation and driving development during his time in the role from January 2025 until December 2025.
Therefore, it is believed that this vital experience at McLaren would be enough for Michel-Grosjean to step up and assist Hamilton next season, ensuring that he gets back onto to podium in his second season with Ferrari.
Topics: Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, McLaren
Ben McCrum