It has been just over a year since, in the summer of 2024, Ferrari team principal Fréd Vasseur began implementing a highly visible internal restructuring of the Scuderia. This initiative followed the departure of then-Technical Director Enrico Cardile and was driven by Vasseur’s desire to shape a different Ferrari, with a new organisational structure compared to what he had inherited from the previous management.
The changes involved a significant turnover, including the appointment of Loic Serra as the new Technical Director, along with several other key figures intended to strengthen critical areas of the team. Yet, twelve months later, the revolving-door climate does not appear to have fully disappeared in Maranello. The team has yet to find the balance necessary for a strong push toward the 2026 season, the campaign that will be crucial for Ferrari to return to the top. In this context, the past weeks in Via Abetone have been particularly eventful, both because of rumours about Fred Vasseur’s own future—which were later denied—and due to several departures or reshuffles in key departments.
Among the summer departures, former head of supply chain Enrico Racca left, followed by internal reshuffles, including the appointment of Carlos Herrero as head of tyre performance. Even after the summer break, the revolving-door pattern continued: immediately after reopening, Ferrari lost two aerodynamic engineers, one joining Audi and another moving to Mercedes. On the engine side, the dramatic exit of two 2026 project leaders, Wolf Zimmermann and Lars Schmidt, to Audi became public—an announcement that had been foreshadowed by authoritative sources earlier in the summer but strongly denied by the Scuderia at the time. With these departures, all responsibilities in the Engine Department were transferred to Enrico Gualtieri.
Overall, the atmosphere in Maranello appears far from ideal for laying solid foundations for 2026—a season that promises a major technical revolution, offering opportunities but also unprecedented challenges. Clear points of reference and strong internal stability could be crucial in addressing the many problems that the new generation of cars will inevitably bring.
Italian journalist and well-known Ferrari insider Leo Turrini expressed doubts about this environment in his blog “Profondo Rosso,” noting that the new hires—mostly from second-tier teams—will be asked to take on a project that is already defined and, if necessary, address issues that are not widely understood. He highlighted that the departures of Zimmermann and Schmidt, engineers long associated with Ferrari, just months before the introduction of the new power unit, can be interpreted in different ways. One possibility is that their exit reflects genuine concerns about the 2026 engine, a concern that Turrini hopes will be disproven by results. Another explanation is that Zimmermann and Schmidt were convinced by Mattia Binotto to join Audi, following arguments that persuaded them to leave.
Leo Turrini concluded that the hope now is that Fred Vasseur knows exactly what he is doing. By mid-September, Ferrari had still not tested the full power unit on the bench, with just three months remaining before component homologation. While turnover among engineers is normal in Formula 1, a lack of results can amplify rumours. In Leo Turrini’s view, Ferrari, like many struggling F1 teams, can sometimes resemble a “Grand Hotel”: people come and go, and maintaining continuity and focus in such an environment is always a challenge.
