F1 | Ferrari: Tondi promoted to aerodynamics chief, will Elliott be DT?

Fred Vasseur said he would announce Ferrari’s new organizational structure in September, suggesting the Scuderia will soon have a new organizational structure in the technical department after Enrico Cardile, chassis technical director, decided to leave the Prancing Horse, where he was born and raised, to accept Aston Martin’s offer that will become effective from the beginning of 2025.

While waiting to reveal the identity of “Mister X”, that is, the engineer who will be responsible for directing and coordinating the technical group in Maranello, there are those who have come out into the open even before the company has made Diego Tondi’s new role official. The aerospace engineer who graduated in Pisa, 41 years old from Galatina, has been appointed as the new Head of Aerodynamics for the Scuderia since the beginning of August.

Following the departure of David Sanchez from the Racing Department at the beginning of last year, Diego’s role in the aerodynamics department has grown: he is now head of the entire department, including the wind tunnel, expanding his responsibilities in a sector that is under a lot of pressure in the development of the SF-24 and in the definition of the 677, the 2025 single-seater which is in an advanced design phase.

Tondi’s “anticipation game” on corporate communication strategies puts the spotlight on the Racing Department even though Ferrari will be closed from midnight on Saturday 3 August for a two-week holiday.

Mike Elliott, former Mercedes CTO: will he join Ferrari?

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

We know that “Mister X” is not Italian, reopening the doors of the Prancing Horse to a foreign technician. Lewis Hamilton and Loic Serra, a driver arriving on October 1 from Mercedes, would have rehabilitated the figure of Mike Elliott, the Englishman who messed up the black-silver “zero pods” that made the Star suffer in the first two years of the ground effect single-seaters.

Mike, after being elevated to the role of CTO, has left the Brackley team. Elliott, it should be remembered, previously contributed to Mercedes’ repeated world championships in the hybrid era as an aerodynamicist.

The Briton is in gardening and could be free at the beginning of 2025. Is this the man Vasseur will focus on, after the French manager had made it clear that Elliott was not on the Prancing Horse’s radar? We have to wait a few weeks to find the answer, but there are not many profiles of this caliber free on the market. Especially since Adrian Newey, the super consultant pursued by many teams, seems to want to stay in Great Britain and has cooled relations with Ferrari.

Frank Sancez, an aerodynamicist who has been at Sauber, AlphaTauri, Marussia, Epsilon Euskadi and Toyota, could also arrive under Tondi.