The last call came very recently. Ferrari attempted to recruit one of McLaren’s key engineers. Not Rob Marshall, the technical director, nor Peter Prodromou, the head of aerodynamics, who are undoubtedly the more publicly recognized figures. No, the Maranello team tried to strike at the heart of Woking by repeatedly approaching Giuseppe Pesce, a 43-year-old from Chieti. “Pino” is McLaren Racing’s director of aerodynamics and head of staff. One of the most vital components of Andrea Stella’s structure.
He has been at McLaren for over thirteen years. He’s a cornerstone of the team currently dominating the F1 world championship. And he’s also an engineer with a long past in Maranello: eight years from 2004 to 2011. He left Ferrari for family reasons: his wife is British—a doctor who would have considered moving to Italy if she could continue her profession there. In the end, it was Pino who left Ferrari and found… a home in Woking.
The SF-25 is falling short of early-season expectations, and part of the blame has been placed on the aerodynamics department, which has struggled to generate the ideas needed to challenge the two MCL39s of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. In Imola qualifying, the “red shrimp” slipped down to being the seventh-fastest car on the grid, with Charles Leclerc in 11th and Lewis Hamilton in 12th, both unable to make it past Q2. Instead of extracting the car’s hidden potential, the gap to the front continues to grow: McLarens are now only visible through binoculars.
And since Loic Serra’s team still hasn’t figured out how to flex front wings or manage rear corners to preserve tyre traction, Ferrari attempted to poach a major figure from a “rival” team who might bring some of the secrets of the papaya cars with him.
“All nine other teams in the paddock would be happy to steal Giuseppe Pesce from us,” Andrea Stella told us with a hint of pride. But what McLaren’s team principal didn’t say is that Pino has already responded to Ferrari—with a clear rejection. The man from Chieti will proudly remain with the group that the Umbrian manager has managed to bring together.
Loic Serra and Diego Tondi alone are not enough to reverse Ferrari’s fortunes: the lack of scheduled developments is proof that the team’s growth rate is far slower than the competition’s. A worrying sign for 2026 as well. That’s why the hunt for new faces continues…
