“We will make noise.” In this way, in the summer of 2023, Ferrari’s team principal, Frédéric Vasseur, decided to comment on the recruitment campaign launched and endorsed by the Ferrari management to strengthen the team’s technical staff after a disappointing start to the season that had dropped the Red team to fourth place in the constructors’ standings. A year has passed since those words, and despite the early season illusions, the situation of the Scuderia appears similar to 12 months ago, even though it is certain that the promises made have been kept: in February, the signing of Lewis Hamilton starting from 2025 was announced, and Charles Leclerc’s contract was renewed, continuing in the following months the recruitment campaign of technicians aimed at redesigning the team according to the French manager’s vision.
After the arrival of about fifty technicians from various teams, in recent months the technical office, currently directed by Vasseur himself (who took on the role on an interim basis after Enrico Cardile’s resignation to join Aston Martin), has been strengthened by two “top guys” from Mercedes: Loic Serra and Jerome D’Ambrosio. A real turnover is taking place, redesigning the Racing Department and still today does not seem finished, as the Red team is seeking new stability, both by bringing in new figures, securing those essential to the project, and letting go of people who are no longer functional to the cause or attracted to new challenges.
A complex turnover to manage for Fred Vasseur, who is currently called upon to both complete the team’s restructuring and get the SF-24 back on track to save a season that started well but saw the car regress after the arrival of the update package in Spain, being overtaken by both Mercedes and McLaren. A reorganization that, as promised by Vasseur, will be completed and announced by “end of summer,” and the first signs of which have emerged in recent weeks with the appointment of Diego Tondi as the new head of aerodynamics. An internal promotion, the latest in recent years, which together with that of Fabio Montecchi and the arrival of Loic Serra should form the new triumvirate at the head of Cavallino’s technical office, effectively dividing the tasks previously under Enrico Cardile, the latest man from the Red team who decided to leave Maranello (after strong pressure and lack of results) to join other rival teams.
This departure, as mentioned, is the latest in a long list of illustrious names, and for years now, it seems to have become a consolidated practice (just remember, above all, the names of Aldo Costa, Lorenzo Sassi, James Allison, and Simone Resta heading to Mercedes). A true one-way march discussed by Leo Turrini in his blog “Profondo Rosso” in response to a series of questions from his readers, which inevitably makes the technical reconstruction of the Scuderia and the consequent return to success very difficult.
“There has been an unforgivable diaspora since 2009. Rebuilding, moreover in the midst of defeats, is not easy. Not even now.”
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