After the team parted ways with Mattia Binotto in 2022, Frederic Vasseur became the team principal for Ferrari. After this significant change in leadership, Vasseur has attempted to make the squad a title contender yet again. In his pursuits, he even enabled the greatest driver shift possible when the Scuderia last month signed Lewis Hamilton for 2025. Reports have surfaced once more that Vasseur and his team are keen on hiring key members of another rival team.
Amidst the ongoing turmoil at Red Bull, there have been reports that Ferrari has shown great interest in recruiting four key Red Bull employees. According to the Italian newspaper Gazzetta, the four individuals who have been identified are Alessandro Germani, David Morgan, Ben Waterhouse, and Enrico Balbo.
Indeed, the drama and uncertainty in the Milton Keynes camp might have enabled other teams to make the move. The Austrian outfit undoubtedly seems in turmoil amidst Christian Horner’s ongoing scandal, which has also raised questions about Max Verstappen’s loyalty to the team. Therefore, taking advantage of the timing, Ferrari might’ve made the move.
| Ferrari recruited engineers from Red Bull. But, according to #AMuS , reports from Italy that Enrico Balbo would leave Red Bull are false ↓ https://t.co/6GEUnGWgIC
— RBR News (@redbulletin) May 3, 2023
Previously, Ferrari made a strong push to hire some of the Red Bull team’s top executives, but their efforts were unsuccessful. However, it came to light during the Saudi Arabian GP that the Scuderia had approached four additional members at different points.
These members certainly have contributed to Red Bull’s ongoing dominance with their expertise in different fields. While Balbo offers his opinion as the head of Red Bull’s aerodynamics, Morgan has guided the team’s aero trackside performance. Ben Waterhouse, the head of performance engineering, is also familiar with every detail of the most dominant F1 car. Germani, on the other hand, has presented his computational fluid dynamics knowledge to the Austrian team.
Who else is Ferrari keeping an eye on?
Frederic Vasseur certainly wants to leave his imprint by leading Scuderia back to the forefront. For example, according to sources from the BBC, a lot of F1 people are certain that Vasseur may have persuaded Pierre Wache to join Ferrari soon.
Given that Wache is Adrian Newey’s right-hand man, this news has also been linked to Newey joining the Prancing Horse. Moreover, according to other rumors, Loic Serra, Mercedes’s performance director, had a significant impact on Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari.
Riccardo Musconi é um dos engenheiros que podem seguir Lewis para trabalhar em Maranello. Na Mercedes ele desempenha o papel de Chefe de Performance de Veículo, ele teria a mesma função na Ferrari.
️ @Gazzetta_it pic.twitter.com/u4enfumaMS
— Scuderia Ferrari Brasil (@PortalFerrariBR) February 3, 2024
In addition, Jerome d’Anbrosio, a crucial lieutenant of Toto Wolff on the Mercedes team, may also leave for Ferrari in the upcoming season. According to Motorsport.com, d’Anbrosio will take over the management of Ferrari’s young driver program the next year after departing Mercedes as its director of driver development.
La Gazzetta has also reported that it is quite likely that additional vital Mercedes members will follow Serra and Hamilton’s confirmed exits. The head of Mercedes trackside performance, Riccardo Musconi, is one of these individuals.
Rumors suggest that Musconi may take on the same position at Ferrari and become the head of in-season development. Considering that if he decides to quit Mercedes, there might be a mass departure from Silver Arrows, which would lead them to be in severe chaos.
