Hamilton hails new race engineer Santi as his "Italian Bono"

Lewis Hamilton has reserved lavish praise for his new Ferrari race engineer Carlo Santi, likening him to his legendary long-term Mercedes collaborator Peter Bonnington — and coining a new nickname in the process.

A New Partnership Takes Shape

The comparison carries real weight. Hamilton's partnership with Bonnington — universally known as "Bono" — was one of the most celebrated driver-engineer relationships in Formula 1 history, forged across 12 seasons at Mercedes and a haul of world championships. That bond was severed when Hamilton made his seismic move to Ferrari in 2025.

For 2026, Hamilton went in search of a different dynamic. Enter Santi, a Ferrari stalwart who made his name as Kimi Räikkönen's engineer during the late 2010s. The early signs have been encouraging, with the two working together this weekend in Monaco. Although off-track commitments mean Santi will not cover every round — with Cedric Michel-Grosjean also part of Ferrari's engineering roster — his calm presence on the radio has clearly resonated with the seven-time world champion.

"He's a bit of an OG. He's an older guy that's been around the block. He's very calm, you can hear it on the radio," Hamilton said. "That's the detail that we're able to go into together. Our understanding of the engineering side, I think it's something that's worth looking at."

Fruits of a Long Process

The importance Hamilton places on this relationship reflects a broader philosophy about what it takes to unlock performance. For him, the driver-engineer dynamic is not a secondary concern — it is fundamental.

"Driver-engineer working together is very, very important," he explained. "When you're giving an engineer feedback, they're understanding through corner balance, they're understanding all the elements that contribute to the struggles of driving. You try to describe what it is, the problem you have, corner by corner — entry, middle, exit. Having that driver-engineer collaboration, it's hit and miss sometimes."

The partnership with Santi arrives at a moment of genuine momentum. Hamilton has already claimed two podium finishes in the early rounds of 2026, sitting fourth in the Drivers' Championship and just three points behind teammate Charles Leclerc. It marks a sharp contrast to a 2025 campaign in which he frequently struggled to get the best from the SF-25 — though he consistently pointed to the scale of the adaptation challenge and the incoming regulation changes as context.

Already convinced that Ferrari has the tools to fight at the front — Hamilton has publicly stated his belief that the team can challenge for victory in Monaco — the seven-time champion now seems to have found the human infrastructure to match that ambition.

"Fred [Vasseur] has been great in working with me and helping me. The engineer setup is a million times better than it was last year and I'm starting to see the fruits of that through how I'm driving the car," Hamilton said.

"We still have a long way to go and we still need to improve in some areas, but I think we're on the right path."

For Hamilton, getting the right people in the right place has always been as important as raw machinery. In Carlo Santi, it appears he may finally have found his man at Ferrari.