Ferrari has hired two new senior staff members from Mercedes ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at the team next year.
Jerome D’Ambrosio, who raced in Formula 1 before turning to a management career, and Loic Serra will join Ferrari in October.
Serra’s planned move from Mercedes was already known. He joined Mercedes after stints at tyre manufacurter Michelin and BMW Sauber.
His time at Mercedes coincided with the peak of the team’s success, when Hamilton scored a string of championship victories. Serra worked as the team’s chief vehicle dynamicist before taking over as performance director in 2018 following the departure of Mark Ellis.
At Ferrari, Serra will serve as head of chassis performance engineering and report to technical director Enrico Cardile. Serra’s responsibility will include track engineering and vehicle performance as well as running its aerodynamic operations and managing its aerodynamic development.
D’Ambrosio raced in F1 with Virgin in 2011. After losing his full-time drive he joined Lotus and returned for a one-off race at Monza in 2012, substituting for Romain Grosjean when he was banned for one race.
After his F1 career D’Ambrosio competed in Formula E. He finished fourth in the inaugural 2014-15 season, winning in Berlin. He spent five more years in the category, winning twice more, but never finished as high in the standings again. He later joined Mercedes in a driver development role.
D’Ambrosio began his move into management at the Venturi Formula E team when it was run by Susie Wolff, the wife of Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. He was appointed as her deputy and stepped up into the team principal role when she became CEO.
At Ferrari D’Ambrosio will again serve as deputy team principal, this time reporting to current team principal Frederic Vasseur, who is currently in his second season in charge at the Scuderia.
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