Though logic instructed that Loic Serra would exchange the outgoing Enrico Cardile, who has formally introduced his departure from Ferrari to affix Aston Martin as Chief Technical Officer beginning in 2025, the previous Mercedes engineer won’t be changing the Italian aerodynamicist as the brand new Technical Director. This place is quickly assigned to Frederic Vasseur on an interim foundation whereas ready to find out who shall be formally appointed after the summer time break.
Might Elliott be the brand new Technical Director at Ferrari?
As already reported in Ferrari’s press launch on Could 13, Loic Serra “will tackle the function of Head of Chassis Efficiency Engineering. Moreover, the Frenchman “will coordinate the work of assorted departments, together with Monitor Engineering, Aero Growth, Aero Operations, and Car Efficiency.”
So, who would be the infamous mysterious determine tasked with working (partially) on the 2025 automobile however primarily specializing in the 2026 undertaking?
With Adrian Newey now dominated out, as he appears more and more inclined to simply accept Lawrence Stroll’s substantial provide at Aston Martin, the one distinguished identify presently out there in the marketplace and doubtlessly operational instantly is Mike Elliott.
The British engineer, after a protracted stint at Mercedes and having considerably contributed to the unimaginable dominance of the Silver Arrows from 2014 to 2021, bid farewell to the Brackley staff final October after 11 years.
Mike Elliott started his motorsport profession in 2000 as an aerodynamicist with McLaren. By 2003, he had superior to the function of trackside aerodynamicist and, by 2006, was main the aerodynamic efficiency staff at McLaren. In 2008, he joined the Renault F1 staff because the principal aerodynamicist, remaining with the Enstone squad till 2012. That yr, he transitioned to Mercedes, the place he took on the place of head of aerodynamics. In 2017, Elliott was promoted to expertise director, succeeding Geoff Willis. By 2021, he had risen additional to change into the technical director, changing James Allison. On April 21, 2023, it was introduced that Elliott and Allison would swap roles, with Allison resuming his place as technical director and Elliott entering into the function of Chief Technical Officer.
Having succeeded James Allison as Technical Director in 2021, Mike Elliott inevitably paid the worth for the unsuccessful W13 and W14 tasks of 2022 and 2023, years during which there was just one victory with George Russell in Brazil and plenty of bitter drugs to swallow.
As customary, the Briton has already noticed the so-called gardening go away after leaving Mercedes, so he would doubtlessly be recruitable among the many technical employees at Maranello with instant impact.
“I’ve determined that it’s the proper time to make my subsequent step exterior of Mercedes,” commented Elliott on the time of his departure, “first to take a break and take inventory, after 23 years of continuous work on this sport, after which to seek out my subsequent problem.”
“Though the final two seasons haven’t seen us profitable races in the way in which we aspire to, they’ve examined us in lots of different methods, forcing us to query our elementary assumptions about how we obtain efficiency.”
As with Adrian Newey, it stays to be seen whether or not Mike Elliott could be prepared to go away England to maneuver to Italy and settle for a problem the place, as has change into clear lately, the chance of failure and disappointment is extraordinarily excessive.
Supply: f1ingenerale
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