Ferrari announce F1 technical team shake-up ahead of Lewis Hamilton era, as Ferrari’s reason for snubbing Adrian Newey emerges
Ferrari have announced several changes to their F1 technical team ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s arrival in 2025, including the appointment of ex-Mercedes chief Loic Serra as their technical director for chassis.
The Italian team confirmed in May that Serra would join alongside Jerome d’Ambrosio.
Initially, Serra was announced as head of chassis performance engineering, reporting directly to Enrico Cardile.
However, Cardile has since left the team for Aston Martin, paving the way for Serra to become their technical director for chassis.
It’s a significant technical reshuffle at Ferrari as they prepare for Hamilton’s arrival in 2025.
Hamilton will end his 12-year stint at Mercedes as he makes the move to Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc.
On Thursday morning, Ferrari released the following statement: “Scuderia Ferrari HP announces that it has entrusted the role of Technical Director Chassis to Loic Serra.
“As previously announced, the French engineer, born in 1972, will join the team on 1 October. Loic in this new role will report directly to the Team Principal, Fred Vasseur.
“Serra will therefore be responsible for the following departments: Chassis Project Engineering, headed up by Fabio Montecchi; Vehicle Performance, headed up by Marco Adurno; Aerodynamics, headed up by Diego Tondi; Track Engineering, headed up by Matteo Togninalli and Chassis Operations, headed up by to Diego Ioverno, who also continues in the role of Sporting Director.
“The role of Technical Director Power Unit continues to be assigned to Enrico Gualtieri reporting directly to Fred Vasseur.”
Ferrari had been heavily linked with Adrian Newey following Red Bull’s announcement in Miami that he would leave the team in the first quarter of 2025.
The 65-year-old is now expected to join Aston Martin.
Ferrari’s reason for snubbing Adrian Newey emerges despite Lewis Hamilton wish
Adrian Newey will not be joining Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari next year.
Ferrari decided not to pursue a move for Adrian Newey because they did not want to get involved in a bidding war, according to reports. Newey is understood to have agreed a deal to join Aston Martin after he leaves Red Bull in the first quarter of 2025.
The Silverstone outfit are expected to hold a press conference on Tuesday ahead of next weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The agenda for the event remains unknown but it is widely anticipated that Newey’s capture will be officially confirmed.
Newey was heavily linked with a move to Ferrari before reportedly agreeing to work for Aston Martin from next season onwards. The Italian team were keen on his signature but chose not to firm up their interest, according to Autosport.
It is said that Ferrari decided against entering the race to land Newey over fears that it might start an ‘auction’ with Aston Martin. Newey is expected to receive a salary of around £76million over three years, a figure which does not include potential bonuses.
Instead of shelling out millions of pounds to sign Newey, Ferrari have decided to invest elsewhere in the company with a new technical structure taking shape. They will also pay Lewis Hamilton the highest salary of any F1 driver in history when he joins next year.
Hamilton admitted earlier this season that he would jump at the chance to work with Newey if the opportunity arose, saying: “He’s got such a great history, track record, and has obviously just done an amazing job through his career in engaging with teams and the knowledge he has.
“I think he would be an amazing addition. I think they’ve [Ferrari] already got a great team, they’re already making huge progress, strides forwards, their car’s quicker this year. But yeah, it would be a privilege to work with him.”
Ferrari have flirted with the idea of landing Newey for decades but have never managed to sign him. The 65-year-old previously revealed that he rejected a number of lucrative offers to join them, telling Sky Sports F1: “It’s come close three times.
“Initially, in my IndyCar career where Ferrari decided to build an IndyCar, I was offered to join as chief designer on their project but didn’t feel it was right so I turned that one down. Then, much more seriously, Jean Todt offered for me to join as technical director in 1996.
“At that point, I had offers to stay at Williams, join McLaren or join Ferrari. I thought long and hard about it, but I had a young family at the time and decided I wanted to stay in the UK.”
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