Chandhok worried about Hamilton: “The relationship with the track engineer has not yet begun”

The shakedown has begun On Tuesday 27 January, Ferrari’s first choice to take to the track in the Barcelona shakedown, Lewis Hamilton completed a total of 56 laps at the wheel of the SF-26 over the course of the afternoon. In a problem-free session for the seven-time world champion, with positive comments from the #44, the Briton also lapped in wet track conditions, but not only that. The temporary track engineer Precisely on the occasion of these tests, Hamilton is working with a new and temporary track engineer: after the interrupted collaboration with Riccardo Adami, Sir Lewis is in fact collaborating with Bryan Bozzi, the same engineer as his teammate Charles Leclerc. However, according to recent rumors from AutoRacer, at the end of the tests its new engineer could be Cedric Michel-Grosjean, arriving from McLaren. Chandhok’s concern Yet, the absence of a track engineer already from the tests is an aspect that is making former driver Karun Chandhok, now a television commentator for Sky Sports, turn up his nose. The Indian, in fact, believes that Ferrari is missing a perfect opportunity to ensure that Hamilton immediately builds an ideal relationship with his engineer, putting his driver on the defensive even before the start of the world championship. An aspect which, according to Chandhok, raises concern: “The thing that rings alarm bells for me is the situation with his engineer – he explained – as far as we know, Bryan Bozzi also drove the car for Lewis. This confuses me, to be honest. That relationship between driver and track engineer is very, very important. They haven’t created a situation in which Lewis builds that relationship over the winter. I would have liked to see him busy on simulator days, going and getting a TPC (test of previous cars, (Ed.) You have to integrate that person into the engineering team into the race team. The public hears the driver-engineer discussion, but it’s just a microcosm of the larger conversations that happen in that engineering office. For me, I’m a little confused that, as we sit here, we’ve already started testing, that bonding and that relationship building hasn’t started yet, after a season that hasn’t been good.”