New race engineer for Raikkonen amid Ferrari reshuffle

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, Malaysian Grand Prix
© XPB 

Ferrari is set to announce that Carlo Santi will take over as race engineer for Kimi Raikkonen in 2018.

Although the appointment isn't yet official, Santi's new role has been reported by Motorsport.com.

Santi had previously acted as the Finn's data engineer in 2017. It's in line with technical chief Mattia Binotto's policy of promoting from within rather than talent hunting from other teams.

Choosing someone who already has a working relationship with Raikkonen is also a boost given that there are only six weeks until the first pre-season test session at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.

Santi replaces David Greenwood, whose departure from Maranello was announced last week. The British engineer is believed to be joining Manor Racing's World Endurance Championship LMP1 programme.

Ferrari is likely to make a number of other personnel changes before the start of the season.

The team's head of track operations Diego Ioverno is likely to assume a new role. Many of his former duties are expected to be taken over by engineering chief Jock Clear.

Claudio Albertini will also take an operation role. Last year he was the chief liaison with Ferrari's engine customer teams, Haas F1 and Sauber.

Maranello veteran Christian Corradini is understood to be taking on the role of chief mechanic.

On Wednesday it was announced that Carlos Sainz' former race engineer Marco Matassa was leaving Toro Rosso to join Ferrari. He'll be working alongside Massimo Rivola on the Scuderia's young driver programme.

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