F1 | Ferrari: There is a plan to get to… Lewis’ car

Is it Ferrari chaos? Enrico Cardile resigned yesterday as technical director of the chassis area and the role was taken by Fred Vasseur ad interim. The team principal of the Prancing Horse, still on Sunday evening had assured that the Tuscan engineer leaving for Aston Martin was still regularly in his place, to keep a house of cards in which only he now believes.

The departure of the 55-year-old from Arezzo is certainly not a surprise, Motorsport.com had anticipated Lawrence Stroll’s interest in May for the technician who grew up in Maranello, considered the right person to organize the technical working group in the new headquarters of the team that is nearing completion and to bring the Prancing Horse’s know-how on the agile 2026 car and the new power unit.

Cardile, an engineer with an aerodynamic background, is not an F1 designer, but is considered a skilled organizer of the technical office. His exit from the Gestione Sportiva, although made official only yesterday, cannot be considered a surprise. On the contrary. There are those who have read Vasseur’s gesture of also taking on the technical delegation, a surprise, a bewilderment. All bullshit. The feeling, on the contrary, is that the plan that the Frenchman has had in his head for some time is being put into action: the definition of a Ferrari according to his wishes and those of president John Elkann.

It is true that Cardile was operational until the end and it is true that he must take responsibility for the SF-24 which has stalled in its development, but it is equally true that the chief’s scenario foresees a different plan with figures who will move immediately after the summer break.

It would be easy to think that the solution to all the problems could be Adrian Newey, but the English “genius” does not seem too attracted to go to Maranello. There were those who went around waving that the Englishman had already signed. It is much more likely that he will let the option signed with the Cavallino expire at the end of the month, although John Elkann’s emissaries have raised the stakes financially.

Adrian Newey: Will he go to Maranello or Aston Martin?

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Newey wants to be a free spirit, an external consultant without the constraints of a daily presence in the Racing Department. To be there when needed to define a new car, but then to step aside and follow the thousand interests he has developed over the years.

Vasseur, therefore, has taken on the role of interim technical director so as not to entrust the task to someone who is already there. It is clear that he is waiting for someone who must be freed up to answer present. It is a “Mister X”, because it will not be Loic Serra, the Frenchman who will arrive on October 1 from Mercedes together with Jerome D’Ambrosio, the Belgian who will become the vice team principal.

Loic Serra, Ferrari Head of Chassis Performance Engineering, Jerome d’Ambrosio, Ferrari Deputy Team Principal

Photo by: Ferrari

Serra will be the Head of Chassis Performance Engineering, reporting directly to the new Technical Director “Mister X”, overseeing various areas such as track, aerodynamic development and performance. Hamilton has “reported” some names and it is not certain that they will all come from Mercedes, a sign that the DT will not be the only one arriving.

And Vasseur will never admit it, but all attention is already focused on designing the Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton. It is not called by its project code, 677, but by the name of the Silverstone winner who will drive it next year.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG

Photo by: Erik Junius

We have already anticipated that it will be a completely new car compared to the SF-24: pull rod front suspension and the chassis will be redone not only to have the attachments of the different kinematics, but also to set a different weight distribution, with a body that will move the cockpit further back, to have a greater distance between the front wheel and the sidepods, following a scheme dear to Red Bull and McLaren.

And the SF-24? The setback with the developments that debuted in Spain was a real blow: Ferrari has lost competitiveness since Monte Carlo, collapsing from being the challenger of Red Bull to the fourth force, overtaken even by Mercedes.

Carlos Sainz, after the disappointment of Silverstone, explained that the Prancing Horse technicians have understood where to put their hands, so the hope is that there is a course correction of a car that suddenly cannot have become a disaster. Hungary and Singapore are marked in red on the calendar, because they are tracks that, at least on paper, should give the SF-24 the hope of returning to make a good impression.

They will try to save what can be saved, considering that the development budget for this car has already been spent and they do not want to divert resources intended for the “Lewis car”. In this context, therefore, we can also understand Charles Leclerc’s moment of discouragement: the Monegasque has entered a negative spiral from which only he can escape. He must believe in his potential and in his ability to beat Hamilton next year. Vasseur, a great friend of the Monegasque, at this stage is not providing the human support that Charles might need. At least it does not seem to be a current problem or a priority, because evidently there are more urgent scenarios to build.

In a Ferrari that is silently changing its skin, there are several technical figures who have started sending CVs around…