Lewis Hamilton likens new Ferrari race engineer to Peter Bonnington
Lewis Hamilton has praised his new Ferrari race engineer Carlo Santi ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, comparing the Italian to his long-time Mercedes ally Peter Bonnington following a resurgence in form.
A chess game paying off for Ferrari
The seven-time world champion heads into this weekend’s race in the principality fresh off a second-place finish in Montreal.
It marked his second podium in the opening five races of the 2026 campaign.
This stands in stark contrast to a difficult debut season with the Scuderia, where he failed to secure a top-three finish across 24 events.
The British driver admits it took time to adjust to life at Maranello after 13 years with Mercedes.
However, he now believes he has successfully repositioned himself within the iconic Italian squad.
“A lot of pawns have moved, managed to move a lot of things on the chessboard, and reposition myself, I think, within the team.”
“We’re working really well together. I’ve got the right engineers now that I need. They’re doing a great job.”
Finding an ‘Italian Bono’
A pivotal off-season change saw Santi replace Riccardo Adami as the lead engineer on his side of the garage.
The on-track dynamic with Adami occasionally sounded strained over the team radio during a frustrating 2025 season.
Now, five races into the new partnership, the veteran racer sees striking similarities to his incredibly successful relationship with Bonnington.
Bonnington, affectionately known as ‘Bono’, guided his former driver to six world titles before remaining at Mercedes to engineer current championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
“The driver-engineer working together is very, very important.”
“Last year Adami and I had a really good relationship. He’s a lovely guy. We work relatively well together.”
“I think catering to a driver’s needs takes time to learn.”
Focus turning to Monaco streets
The improved synergy behind the scenes is clearly translating to better performance on the track.
The 41-year-old feels he has had significant input into the development direction of this year’s challenger.
“These things take time, and I’m grateful that we are where we are, but we’ve got a lot of work going forwards.”
“It’s not a given that we’re going to be competitive everywhere we go.”
Despite those tempered expectations, rivals are increasingly viewing the scarlet cars as favourites for victory on the tight, twisting streets of Monte Carlo.