Lewis Hamilton believes he has found his “Italian Bono” in new Ferrari race engineer Carlo Santi, sparking a resurgent 2026 campaign following a difficult debut season with the Scuderia.
Ferrari reassigned Riccardo Adami ahead of the 2026 season. This followed Hamilton’s failure to score a podium in 2025.
Adami previously engineered Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz.
However, he struggled to replicate the iconic dynamic Hamilton enjoyed with Peter “Bono” Bonnington at Mercedes. There, the the pair won 83 races and secured six Drivers’ World Championships together.
A new engineer for Hamilton
Ferrari promoted veteran engineer Carlo Santi to step in alongside Hamilton for 2026. Santi previously engineered Kimi Raikkonen during his 2018 United States GP victory at Austin.
Speaking to media, Hamilton praised Santi’s calm demeanor and deep engineering understanding.
“Last year, Adami and I had a really good relationship, and he was a lovely guy,” Hamilton explained.
“We worked actually relatively well together. I think catering to a driver’s needs, it takes time to learn when you’re giving an engineer feedback: their understanding of through-corner balance, their understanding of all the elements that contribute to the struggles; you try to describe what it is, the problem you have, corner by corner, entry, middle, and exit.
“You dissect it into five sections, if you want, and having that driver engineer, sometimes it is hit and miss,” Hamilton added.
“With Bono, it was hit off from the beginning. Mostly, he had a good working relationship with Michael [Schumacher], and I do feel like Carlos is like my Italian Bono.
“I told Bono that the other day, and [Santi] is a bit of an OG; he feels like he’s an older guy who’s been all around the block and is very calm.
“You can hear on the radio, but this is the detail that we’re able to go into together with our understanding of the engineering side.”
The instant chemistry between Hamilton and Santi has paid massive dividends in 2026, helping Hamilton claim a breakthrough win in Barcelona and holding second place in the championship fight.
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