Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur is doing his best to hire the strongest talent in the Formula 1 paddock to try and end Red Bull Racing’s domination.
The headline signing is Lewis Hamilton and he will join up with the team ahead of the 2025 campaign.
A report from Gazzetta dello Sport has shared more details about the team’s ambitions.
It’s been announced that two more senior members of staff will join Ferrari before the end of the year.
They’ve weakened rivals Mercedes by bringing in Jerome d’Ambrosio who was Toto Wolff’s de-facto number two.
They’ve also signed senior engineer Loic Serra and Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok believes that’s a real coup.
The ultimate goal for Ferrari is to sign Adrian Newey but that may mean taking a backwards step in their pursuit of his Red Bull colleague Pierre Wache.
The 49-year-old has been described as a ‘critical’ member of staff for the team and Red Bull won’t want to lose him at the same time as Newey is departing, let alone to their current closest rival.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory
Ferrari cool interest in Pierre Wache as they pursue Adrian Newey
There was a lot of surprise in the world of Formula 1 when rumours started to circulate that Adrian Newey was considering leaving Red Bull.
Days later an official statement was released and it was shared that Newey would be leaving the team in the first quarter of 2025.
Newey hasn’t shared what he’ll be doing next and whether his next step will even be in Formula 1, but Red Bull are already taking steps to stop Newey from learning more about their latest developments in case he joins one of their rivals.
Plenty of teams in the paddock are incredibly interested in signing him but Ferrari are considered his most likely destination.
Ferrari have shown interest in signing Wache but if Newey arrives at Maranello, then the team don’t necessarily need both staff members.
That will be music to Max Verstappen’s ears as the triple-world champion is a big believer in the Frenchman.
Ferrari aiming to knock Red Bull off their perch
The report from Gazzetta suggests that Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has regularly looked towards Red Bull to strengthen his staff.
They believe that Ferrari have attempted to sign Wache on ‘several occasions’ but that move has ‘taken a back seat’ as they continue their pursuit of Newey.
The 65-year-old is described as the team’s latest ‘big target’ and they want to hire Newey from 1 April 2026 to become the team’s technical ‘supervisor’.
It would be a similar role to the one Rory Byrne currently plays at Ferrari.
The veteran South African engineer is still a consultant for the Scuderia and is only called upon by the team when necessary.
Ferrari already have a very strong design and engineering department but Newey would be the perfect person to oversee their work and guide them when he feels necessary, rather than casting his eye over every minute detail.
Whoever signs Newey is going to have a handy advantage over their rivals for 2027 as he’s unlikely to be hired early enough to have an impact on the 2026 car.
It also gives teams a chance to spend a year working on the first version of their cars under the new regulations before Newey makes any necessary adjustments.
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