The focus sharpened on Lewis Hamilton following the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix when he indicated an “engineer substitution” at Ferrari, later clarified as Johannes Hatz, offspring of past Porsche leader Wolfgang Hatz.
The seven-time F1 global titleholder’s observation “we were mutually in a crucial period” concerning a fresh engineer post-Spa instigated curiosity considering no declaration of a modification on Hamilton’s unit side by Ferrari was issued.
To clarify, Hamilton’s race engineer Riccardo Adami continues his engagement, and despite their professional dynamic experiencing occasional turbulence since uniting, their collaborative discourse appears to be steadily enhancing.
The switch Hamilton alluded to pertains to his performance engineer, Johannes Hatz, a German national with previous engagements at Porsche Motorsport during 2011-12, subsequent to stints at Abt and Audi, and where he earned his undergraduate qualification. From 2013, he has fulfilled diverse engineering roles in F1, each within Red Bull’s development squad situated in Faenza.
Johannes Hatz is the progeny of Wolfgang Hatz, a longstanding Volkswagen executive who held the position of Porsche’s board representative for research and development until 2015 – the year of the Dieselgate incident.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team
Photo by: Ryan Pierse / Getty Images
Hamilton sparked a degree of puzzlement with his declaration that he was acquainted with his recent engineer “for numerous years” and that they had collaborated on “my prior team with me, albeit not in that designation.” This has subsequently been clarified as a misunderstanding given Hatz never served at Mercedes; his transition was immediate from Racing Bulls to Ferrari in January 2024.
“It presents challenges to substitute engineers amidst a season,” Hamilton stated. “We’re becoming attuned to one another, necessitating extraordinarily rapid assimilation.”
Following a problematic inception to the Belgian GP characterized by premature eliminations from both sprint qualifying and grand prix qualifying, coupled with a finish exterior to the points during the sprint, the duo experienced a robust resurgence that saw Hamilton progress from a pitlane commencement to securing seventh place in Sunday’s grand prix.
Within Ferrari’s structure, this realignment is not viewed as extraordinary, as the organization conveyed that trackside personnel are occasionally subject to rotation. Hatz superseded Riccardo Corte as the performance engineer for Hamilton’s vehicle, with Corte reassigned internally at Ferrari, though his novel assignment remains undisclosed to the public.
Additional reporting by Ben Vinel
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