F1 | Ferrari shields Gualtieri who refuses Binotto’s mega offer

He tried. They are friends and there is great respect for each other. Mattia Binotto made an offer to Enrico Gualtieri to bring him to Audi as soon as the Reggio Emilia native entered the four-ring team with full powers. There was the risk that, like the other Enrico of the Cavallino, Cardile, technical director of the chassis part, would leave Maranello.

If the 49-year-old Tuscan accepted the flattery of Aston Martin, “recommended” to Lawrence Stroll by none other than Adrian Newey, the head of the engine department made a choice of… heart preferring to stay at Ferrari, even though there was a financial offer that would have tripled or almost tripled his salary.

The Scuderia drains the possible escape of technicians to give consistency to the stability of the Prancing Horse. Enrico Gualtieri is a fundamental ganglion in the Gestione Sportiva being the technical director in the powertrain area and the mechanical engineer who graduated from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in 2000 has preferred to give continuity to a history that saw him enter the simulation area of ​​Ferrari more than twenty years ago where he silently built a career that took him to the top.

Enrico Gualtieri, Technical Director Power Unit Ferrari

Photo by: Ferrari

A 49-year-old from Modena, Gualtieri is a shy guy who doesn’t like the limelight, but prefers to work in the shadows, consolidating his work group. Enrico manages a group of over 300 people: all attention is already focused on the nascent 2026 power unit that has been running on the bench for a few months.

The project curated by Wolf Zimmermann with the collaboration of the Austrian experts of AvL seems to be very innovative and Ferrari has important ambitions on a regulation that, at least initially, should give back a F1 with a primogeniture of the engine, compared to the supremacy of aerodynamics to which we have become accustomed in recent years.

Gualtieri, therefore, being at the top of the pyramid of motorists wants to lead a process that could bring the Cavallino back to the top of the Circus. The responsibility is great and the possible exit of Enrico would have been serious because the expert from Modena could have brought to Audi a know-how of inestimable value.

The curiosity, at this point, is to discover who will be appointed Ferrari technical director, with Fred Vasseur who will give up the role he took on on an interim basis after Cardile’s resignation. The Frenchman reiterated that he will be a technician arriving from outside (the stock of former Mercedes driver Mike Elliott is falling): some are insisting on Loic Serra, the Frenchman who will join the Maranello team from October 1, even if he has never held this role. We’ll see. In the meantime, the roles of the Italians who are working on the 677, the 2025 red that will be a clean break with the SF-24, have been strengthened: Diego Tondi (aerodynamics), Fabio Montecchi (chassis) and Marco Audurno (performance).

Vasseur is aiming for stability and the highly regarded Riccardo Adami, currently Carlos Sainz’s track engineer, should be confirmed in the role also with Lewis Hamilton, with the hope of not making him miss Peter Bonnington who is staying at Mercedes to act as a “nanny” for Kimi Antonelli.