Ferrari crew boss Frederic Vasseur revealed the challenges confronted in securing two key recruits from Mercedes, stating that it took practically two years to finalize their strikes as a consequence of Method 1’s “irritating” guidelines on gardening depart.
The people in query are Loic Serra, previously Mercedes’ efficiency director, and Jerome d’Ambrosio, beforehand answerable for Mercedes’ junior crew. Serra joined Ferrari as chassis technical director in October, whereas Jerome d’Ambrosio assumed the position of deputy crew principal and head of Ferrari’s driver academy.
The Scuderia has voiced its dissatisfaction with the restrictions posed by Method 1’s gardening depart rules. These guidelines mandate a transitional interval throughout which high-ranking personnel can not begin work with their new crew instantly after leaving their earlier employer. Whereas such provisions are customary throughout the grid and never unique to Ferrari, Vasseur emphasised that this information does little to mitigate the frustration attributable to such delays.
Luckily for Ferrari, the state of affairs didn’t apply to their latest acquisition of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, whose switch from Mercedes to the Maranello-based squad was unimpeded by gardening depart necessities.
Discussing Ferrari’s long-term technique and reflecting on their second-place end within the 2024 Constructors’ Championship, Ferrari crew principal Frederic Vasseur shared his perspective in an interview with Autosprint, highlighting the significance of those key additions to the Maranello crew’s ambitions for the long run: “We should preserve the identical strategy, work in step with our DNA as we’re doing now. We all the time attempt to strengthen ourselves. As for the arrival of recent assets, it’s irritating that it takes so many months earlier than new hires can begin working with them. However the guidelines are these and they’re the identical for everybody, even when they create rigidity. We now have new assets that we contracted a 12 months in the past and solely began six weeks in the past. It’s a really lengthy course of. Sources recruited final 12 months will contribute primarily to 2025 and 2026. To have folks like Jerome d’Ambrosio and Loic Serra within the crew, it took nearly two years.” – the French supervisor identified.
“We should take into account that on the one hand, with twenty-four Grands Prix a 12 months, we have now to work to unravel quick issues throughout the subsequent two days; however, as an alternative, we have now to consider different assets on a time stage of two or three years. We should establish the areas the place we have to enhance within the quick and assets capable of work with the purpose of the subsequent season. We all know that if we rent a useful resource within the month of November, its work shall be mirrored on the automotive two seasons later. My job is to maintain a foot in each challenge, quick or future.” – the Ferrari crew boss continued.
Spanish driver Carlos Sainz left Ferrari to pave the way in which for Hamilton’s entry, signing a multi-year contract with Williams as a part of the transfer.