Lewis Hamilton has been reportedly handed a crucial decision regarding his race engineer by Ferrari ahead of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
Hamilton has been without a fixed race engineer since the departure of Riccardo Adami early in the year, the Italian being moved into a new role within the Scuderia.
This sparked a search to find a replacement, which was won by former McLaren trackside engineer, Cedric Michel-Grosjean.
The Frenchman is now working with the team, but has not formally taken over the role yet.
Since Adami’s departure, Hamilton was given the services of Bryan Bozzi, race engineer for teammate Charles Leclerc, during ‘shakedown week’ in Barcelona.
From pre-season testing in Bahrain onwards, Hamilton has worked with Carlo Santi, former race engineer for Kimi Raikkonen.
And despite Michel-Grosjean having been involved since the season-opener in Melbourne, it appears that there will be no change just yet.
A report by PlanetF1 has said that Santi will continue in the role for the time being, and will be on the pit wall for Hamilton when F1 returns in Miami on the weekend of May 1-3.
Hamilton warned about the problems that the short-term solution could bring in pre-season testing, telling media, including Motorsport Week: “It’s actually quite a difficult period, because it’s not long-term. The solution that I currently have, it’s only gonna be a few races.
“So early on into the season, it’s gonna be switching up again, and I’ll have to learn someone to work with someone new. So that’s detrimental to me too.
“A season where you want to arrive with people that have done multiple seasons, that are that have been through thick and thin, and calm.
“But it is the situation that I’m faced with, and I’ll try and do the best I can. We are, I think the team is trying to do the best they can to help seamless as possible.”
Team Principal Fred Vasseur did not quite share Hamilton’s viewpoint during the same period, playing down the importance of the situation and pleading with media to stop focusing on it.
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton to search for answers to ‘really confusing’ Ferrari problem
Discussion about this post