It has been just over a year since, in the summer of 2024, Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur began implementing the “noisy” internal restructuring of the Scuderia, launched after the departure of then Technical Director Enrico Cardile, but still strongly desired by the Frenchman to shape a different Ferrari, with a new organization compared to what he had inherited from the previous management.
A massive turnover followed, with the arrival of Loic Serra as new Technical Director along with other figures aimed at strengthening crucial areas of the team. Twelve months later, however, the revolving door atmosphere does not seem to have disappeared at Maranello, as Ferrari has yet to find the best balance ahead of the 2026 season, the one that should bring the team back to the top. In this context, recent weeks at Via Abetone have been particularly turbulent, not only due to rumors (later denied) about Vasseur’s own future, but also because of several departures and reshuffles in key departments.
Football-style turnover
Among the departures that marked the summer period was that of former head of supply chain Enrico Racca, followed by an internal reshuffling of engineers already reported earlier, such as the arrival of Carlos Herrero as head of tyre performance. But even after the summer break, the doors at Maranello did not stop spinning: as soon as the factory reopened, the Scuderia lost two aerodynamic engineers, one heading to Audi and another to Mercedes. On the engine side, there was the sensational exit—anticipated by reliable sources at the beginning of the summer but strongly denied by Ferrari—of two leaders of the 2026 project, Wolf Zimmermann and Lars Schmidt, both of whom have joined Audi. All responsibilities of the engine department have now been entrusted to Enrico Gualtieri. In short, the atmosphere in Italy seems far from ideal for laying solid foundations ahead of 2026: a season when the major technical revolution will bring new opportunities but also unprecedented challenges. Having clear reference figures and strong internal stability would greatly help in tackling the many problems the new generation of single-seaters will inevitably bring.
Turrini doubtful
A climate that seems far removed from the one at Ferrari, where the new arrivals (mostly coming from midfield teams) will be asked to work on an already defined project and, if necessary, to take responsibility for issues not of their own making. This is precisely the point, along with the recent exits from Ferrari, that Leo Turrini discussed on his blog “Profondo Rosso.”
“That Zimmermann and Schmidt, engine specialists linked to Ferrari for years, end their collaboration with Maranello just a few months before the introduction of the new power unit is news open to interpretations. […] First possibility: the concerns about the 2026 engine are real and the split comes from a disappointment that one hopes will be contradicted by facts. Second: Zimmermann and Schmidt were convinced by Mattia Binotto […] who found the right arguments to bring them to Audi. After that, it is better to hope that Fred Vasseur […] knows what he is doing. […] By mid-September Ferrari had still not bench-tested the entire PU. And there are only three months left before component homologation. […] Engineer turnover in F1 is the norm. […] The lack of results fuels the spread of whispers. Winning helps you win, and when you lose it is not unlikely to turn into a kind of Grand Hotel. People coming, people going…”
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