F1 | Serra out of Mercedes, preparing to join Ferrari

Loic Serra left his place at Mercedes a couple of weeks ago and began the gardening period, waiting to join Ferrari at the end of the year, when the period of downtime will be over and he will be able to integrate into Enrico Cardile's staff to think to the red one of 2026, i.e. the single-seater that will be created with the new regulation that the FIA ​​has yet to approve.

That of the 52-year-old Frenchman from Nancy would be Fred Vasseur's first important acquisition in the technical area: for the last five years the transalpine has been the Director of Performance at the Stella headquarters in Brackley, and with Mercedes he spent almost 12 years, starting from vehicle engineer.

Loic boasts a great knowledge on the use of tires because after graduating in mechanical engineering he had spent more than a decade at Michelin where he had acquired all the knowledge on racing tyres.

Even if he is not a character little known to the general public, Serra is considered a powerful technician who Fred Vasseur strongly wanted in his staff, after a long back and forth with Toto Wolff who freed him as late as possible and he wanted to be active right up to the end in the working group headed by James Allison.

Sports Management is changing its face a little at a time, while proceeding in the continuity of the organization which is being strengthened by young people full of ideas and enthusiasm. F1 is investing heavily in AI, a tool that will be indispensable on the 2026 single-seaters, especially for the management of the new power units.

Serra will join Cavallino, while Simone Resta, a former Ferrari driver also in gardening, will go to Mercedes in the role of Strategic Development Director, followed by Enrico Sampò, a simulation expert. Vasseur is fishing at Mercedes not only in the purely technical field, because the other figure expected in Maranello will be Jerome D'Ambrosio, the Belgian who is Toto's right-hand man and who will have to take over the direction of the FDA.

Leclerc-Hamilton will be the Ferrari duo from 2025

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

The most important name on the list is that of Lewis Hamilton who will break his relationship with the Star at the end of the year, to begin the last stretch of his career with a red single-seater. According to British rumors, the seven-time world champion is preparing his arrival at Ferrari meticulously: he doesn't want to leave anything to chance, aware that he won't have much time to shape an environment in which he can feel at home as he did for many years first in McLaren and then in Mercedes. Lewis wants to know the working methods of the Racing Department and the people, so much so that he cannot rule out the possibility of bringing along some trusted figure from Brackley.