The man Lewis Hamilton kept dragging into his arms on the Barcelona podium, after his first win in Ferrari red, was not a star designer. It was Carlo Santi, a race engineer Ferrari had only ever slotted in as a temporary measure — and who is now being called Hamilton's "Italian Bono."
Santi, 52 and from Verona, was supposed to be a short-term answer. Following Hamilton's bruising first season in red, Ferrari shifted Riccardo Adami — whose clipped radio exchanges with the driver had been a 2025 sub-plot — to lead the Ferrari Driver Academy, and handed Santi the headset for pre-season testing. He simply stayed. It is not a thin CV: Santi guided Kimi Raikkonen to the Finn's 21st and last grand prix victory at the 2018 United States Grand Prix before taking a remote leadership post at Maranello.
The driver has not held back on what changed. "It was great to have him up there," Hamilton said of the podium, via Crash.net. "Him kind of substituting this year, jumping in and diving in deep with me, we didn't know each other, we'd never spoken... we met and I think got on straight away. It's great to be able to connect with an engineer."
He framed it as a two-way revival. "I like to think that this has probably reignited the love that he has as being an engineer, as he has done for me as a driver," said Hamilton, describing Santi as "very, very quiet" and someone who struggles to show emotion.
Team boss Fred Vasseur, though, was wary of building a shrine to one engineer. "I don't want to put Carlo in front or whatever," Vasseur said. "Carlo is part of the process and the fit between Carlo and Lewis is a good one. If we are getting results, it's because collectively we are doing a good job."
Is this a turnaround with title implications, or just a good day? David Coulthard, a vocal sceptic during Hamilton's slump, has revised his view. "I feel a mixture of absolute admiration and relief," Coulthard told Formula 1. "The relief is because it's not comfortable to question the quality of a driver like Lewis."
He even floated the championship. "He's second in the World Championship, Mercedes have got reliability concerns, and that's only going to get worse as the year goes on, so could we be talking about someone who's in the hunt for the World Championship?" Coulthard said, citing a precedent: "Max came back from 100 points at this race and almost won it in Abu Dhabi." Of the Barcelona drive itself, he was unequivocal: "That was world-class."
The three takes pull in different directions, and that tension is the story. Hamilton puts the resurgence down to a human click with Santi; Vasseur insists it is a collective effort and won't elevate any individual; Coulthard widens the lens to the points table, where any Mercedes fragility on Kimi Antonelli's side could crack the title race open. The common thread is that the lost-looking Hamilton of 2025 has vanished.
He heads to the Austrian Grand Prix (June 26-28) second behind Antonelli. The "Italian Bono" comparison sets a daunting standard — Peter Bonnington was alongside Hamilton for six of his seven crowns. But on what Barcelona showed, Santi has at least rebuilt the foundation those titles stood on.
