Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok believes that one unusual part of Lewis Hamilton’s pre-season testing programme is ‘ringing alarm bells’.
Hamilton and Ferrari are taking part in the five-day ‘shakedown’ event in Barcelona – a private test where 10 of the teams, with Williams not attending, are running their 2026 cars at speed on the track for the first time.
The teams are all following staggered programmes, meaning they are not on the track on every day of the test.
errari, for instance, skipped Monday but ran on Tuesday and plan to run on Thursday and Friday, while reigning champions McLarenonly started their programme on Wednesday
The first test isn’t especially significant in regards to lap times, with much more focus on identifying any early reliability or other car issues that can be addressed before the second test in Bahrain next month.
It is also giving drivers a chance to get used to the numerous in-car innovations that have been brought in as part of the extensive 2026 regulation changes.
They include an overtake button and an ‘active aerodynamics’ system, which allows the driver to alter the front and rear wing levels while they are in the car.
It is also an opportunity for drivers to get used to either working with a new team – such as Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez at Cadillac, or Isack Hadjar at Red Bull – as well as establishing relationships with team personnel.
The latter is where Hamilton is in a slightly unusual position, as the seven-time world champion currently does not have a race engineer.
Riccardo Adami, who filled the role last season, has been re-deployed to a senior role in Ferrari’s junior programme.
In the build-up to the 2026 season, he is working with interim race engineer Carlo Santi, who was previously part of Kimi Raikkonen’s inner circle at Ferrari.
Bryan Bozzi, who is Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc‘s race engineer, is providing support.
reported on Sunday that former McLaren lead trackside performance engineer Cedric Michel-Grosjean, who worked with Oscar Piastri last season, is likely to be Adami’s permanent replacement.
But the Frenchman is currently on gardening leave, having left McLaren at the end of 2025, and it is not yet clear when he will be free to join the Scuderia.