Ferrari confirm new senior signings following Mercedes snaffle

Ferrari will have two new high-profile names in their ranks by the end of this season, including a new deputy team principal.

Ferrari has signed former Mercedes staff members Loic Serra and Jerome d’Ambrosio, with both set to join the Scuderia by the end of 2024.

Ferrari confirm Loic Serra and Jerome d’Ambrosio

On October 1 this year, both Loic Serra and Jerome d’Ambrosio will make their first appearances in red as they join the ranks at Maranello.

Serra will lead chassis development as Head of Chassis Performance Engineering, reporting to Enrico Cardile, as well as looking after areas including track engineering, aero development and operations, as well as vehicle performance.

d’Ambrosio, a former F1 driver who raced in the 2011 and 2012 seasons, has joined the team as Deputy Team Principal and will report directly to Fred Vasseur.

He will also helm Ferrari’s Driver Academy, having run Mercedes’ counterpart programme up until earlier this year.

Serra’s switch from Mercedes to Ferrari will reunite the engineer with Lewis Hamilton, with Serra having served as Head of Vehicle Performance at Mercedes before making the decision to leave Brackley – he did so earlier this year.

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Serra is believed to have been of the opinion the direction taken with the W13 and W14 was the wrong one, with Serra having been in agreement with Hamilton’s concerns about the car built for the introduction of the 2022 ground effect regulations.

The swap to put James Allison back in the Technical Director was made after Serra had already apparently made up his mind to leave, with the switch coming too late for Allison’s wish to keep him on board to come to fruition.

Serra’s background also includes stints with Michelin and BMW-Sauber.

As for d’Ambrosio, the Belgian has been with Mercedes in recent years, having kicked off his post-racing career with the Venturi team in Formula E. He replaced Susie Wolff as team boss at the Monaco-based squad in 2021, before making the switch to Mercedes F1 in 2022.

He had been touted as a possible successor for Toto Wolff in the role of team principal as the Austrian has indicated a desire to take a step back from attending all the races in the future but, following his switch, the process of identifying that successor has restarted.

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