It’s a difficult moment for Ferrari, very difficult. The Scuderia, which started with the intention of breaking the bank in Monte Carlo, returned home one minute behind Max Verstappen. The Principality operation failed miserably with Charles Leclerc, sixth, and Carlos Sainz, eighth.
The Scuderia’s adversaries brought technical innovations, while those of Maranello remained closed in the balance, and it was clear why Aston Martin, Alpine and Mercedes finished ahead of the reds, relegating the disappointing SF-23 to the role of fifth force, seen that the supremacy of Red Bull has not been scratched even in the sixth round of the season.
The attention of the Prancing Horse fans is already oriented to the Spanish GP where Ferrari will bring an important package of modifications: in Barcelona the redhead will have to show what its true face is and if the interventions made will serve to correct the indisputable shortcomings of the SF- 23, a single-seater that remains difficult to drive as well as being low on performance.
In reality, before the Montmelò showdown there is another important date for the Racing Department: today 29 May, two figures enter the service that Ferrari has managed to bring to Maranello from the world of Red Bull. Two technicians enter the Gestione Sportiva who may not be considered first-rate, but these are two targeted reinforcements who will be invaluable in defining the 2024 single-seater.
One of the two will certainly not go unnoticed being more than 1.90 m tall: we are talking about an American who is a university professor in Maryland. His name is David George, an engineer devoted to aerodynamics who has also worked in NASCAR and Indycar as well as F1 in his career.
George can be considered a valuable joker who brought innovative ideas to the projects he collaborated on: David was one of the pawns in Honda’s relaunch after its disastrous return to the GP world with McLaren. And as we have already said, he didn’t limit himself to knowledge of power units, but he broadened his interests to both aerodynamics and the mechanical part of a single-seater.
After the gardening period, the American arrives at the Gestione Sportiva with a former Red Bull aerodynamicist who has decided to bet on the relaunch of Ferrari. These are the first purchases of Fred Vasseur’s management: engineers who will join the staff directed by Enrico Cardile.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal Ferrari
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz / Motorsport Images
And now perhaps we can understand the irritation of Christan Horner who would have succeeded in blocking other technicians leaving for Maranello: it should come as no surprise, then, if Laurent Mekies, chosen by Milton Keynes as AlphaTauri team principal, is kept in the “refrigerator ” from the Scuderia.
A game of chess is underway: there are those who buy time to keep engineers from joining before next year’s machine project starts and there are those who block the restructuring of a team that must become more of a copy of Haas in the relationship of technical dependence with Ferrari.
John Elkann has also moved to try to unblock the situation and the feeling is that the Cavallino is thinking more about next year than the present. No one says it, but the signals are increasingly clear…
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