Ferrari shake-up raises questions over Lewis Hamilton’s setup and future success ahead of crucial season

The scrutiny around Lewis Hamilton’s long-awaited switch to Ferrari was always going to be intense, but the first few weeks of groundwork, or ‘grinding’, have already fuelled fresh speculation about how seamlessly the seven-time world champion is settling in at his new home.

With the Scuderia in the throes of a quiet revolution at team level, eyes are moving away from lap times and towards behind-the-scenes structure, and specifically the people Hamilton will lean on hardest when push comes to shove.As pre-season running began in secret at Barcelona, rather than a sunny Spanish track with thousands of people crammed into grandstands to watch the action, a big question remained in the air: driver-engineer relationships.

For a driver in the later stages of his career about to start a new chapter, stability and clarity are required. For now, Ferrari seems to be looking for both.

Uncertainty around Lewis Hamilton’s engineering setup

Central to that talk is Cedric-Michel Grosjean, the ex-McLaren Lead Trackside Performance Engineer who has reportedly become the favourite to take over as Hamilton's personal engineer at Ferrari. Although highly-rated in the paddock, Grosjean is not yet fully-signed so Hamilton finds himself in a curious intermediary position at an important stage of preparations.

Hamilton is driving with the long-term race engineer of Charles Leclerc, Bryan Bozzi, for the opening two test sessions in Barcelona. While Bozzi is very experienced with Ferrari’s own systems, his first responsibility still comes from Leclerc, making an uncomfortable overlap that is far from ideal when a driver needs to focus on getting confidence and rhythm in a new car as soon as possible.Former F1 driver and Sky Sports analyst Karun Chandhok voiced concern over the arrangement, calling it a potential red flag. “The other thing that’s ringing alarm bells for me is his engineer situation,” Chandhok said. “As far as we understand, Bryan Bozzi, who is Charles Leclerc’s race engineer, was running the car, including for Lewis. That confuses me, if I’m perfectly honest.”

Why the engineer relationship could define Lewis Hamilton’s season

In today's era of Formula 1, the relationship between driver and race engineer can be as important as the car. The way it’s communicated, the trust in each other, and the understanding of which direction we want to go setup-wise can be worth tenths per lap, and sometimes more over a race distance.

This marks a significant change for Hamilton and sees him step out of his famous partnership with Peter Bonnington at Mercedes.Ferrari’s late confirmation of Hamilton’s engineering structure means he may be at a disadvantage compared to his front-running rivals. Although early testing outcomes rarely determine the ultimate story of any given season, a degree of doubt in the early part of this process can extend into opening races.