Who is Carlo Santi, Lewis Hamilton’s ‘Italian Bono’ at Ferrari?

Lewis Hamilton’s first victory in Ferrari colours at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was more than a long-awaited breakthrough. It was also a clear sign that the seven-time World Champion has finally found the technical structure he needed around him at Maranello.

Carlo Santi’s Ferrari path

At the centre of Hamilton’s recent progress is Carlo Santi, the race engineer he has already described as his ‘Italian Bono’. Santi, 52, was born in Verona and has spent more than a decade inside Ferrari’s Formula 1 operation.

He worked closely with Kimi Raikkonen in 2016 and 2017 before becoming the Finn’s race engineer in 2018, a partnership that included Raikkonen’s final F1 victory at the United States Grand Prix. Santi later moved into a leadership role within Ferrari’s remote garage at Maranello, supporting the race team during grand prix weekends.

For Santi, Ferrari was never just another job. “Ever since I was a youngster, working for the Scuderia was my ultimate goal. However, the path that led me here was not straightforward,” he told Ferrari’s official website last year.

After graduating in Mechanical Engineering at Milan Polytechnic, specialising in land vehicles, Santi worked at the FIAT Research Centre in Turin before moving into vehicle dynamics. He later entered racing as a performance engineer with an endurance team, then joined Ferrari as a model engineer on its first driving simulator.

Why Hamilton wanted change

Hamilton began life at Ferrari with Riccardo Adami, but after a bruising 2025 campaign, he sought a new direction. “With Riccardo it was a pretty difficult decision to make, and I’m really, really grateful for all the effort he put in last year,” Hamilton said in February.

Santi’s role was initially expected to be temporary. Instead, the pairing has quickly delivered a win and two second places across the last three Grands Prix.

‘He’s absolutely awesome’

Hamilton has compared the relationship to his long Mercedes partnership with Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington. “I do feel like Carlo is like my ‘Italian Bono’,” he said. “He’s an older guy that’s been around the block. He’s very calm.”

The bond appears to be translating directly into performance. After finishing second in Canada, Hamilton said Santi had helped him reach a sweeter set-up window and finally attack the corners with confidence.

Now 41 points behind Kimi Antonelli in the championship, Hamilton and Santi look set to continue together. Their first victory in Barcelona may not be the end point, but the beginning of Ferrari’s most convincing Hamilton chapter yet.