Ferrari beats Aston Martin in court as Tuscan aero wizard's joining date extended

Ferrari has beaten Aston Martin in court to deny Enrico Cardile from joining the latter in the first few months of 2025. The Tuscan-born native had announced his resignation from the post of Technical Director at the Maranello-based outfit in July last year to join the British team.

Ferrari had already filled the position vacated by Cardile with Loic Serra, who joined the former from Mercedes in October last year. The 49-year-old was poached by Aston Martin to become the new Chief Technical Director of the Silverstone-based outfit and lead their plans for the 2026 season. However, he could only join them after serving his gardening leave.

As reported by Corriere.it, Ferrari and Aston Martin had butted heads regarding Enrico Cardile's joining date with the latter wanting an early release to kickstart their process for 2026. After legal proceedings lasting months, the Prancing Horses came out on top after the court believe.

"The former employee was already violating the non-competition commitment undertaken in favor of Ferrari, the purpose of which was to prevent other F1 teams, by hiring Cardile earlier than permitted, from gaining an unjustified competitive advantage, causing Ferrari irreparable damage."

Cardile will join Aston Martin after July 18 and work alongside the likes of Adrian Newey and Andy Cowell on the 2026 project.

Ferrari team principal analyzes the F1 test in Bahrain

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur stated that the conditions in Bahrain were similar to Las Vegas, with the hotter temperatures for which the Middle Eastern region is known.

On two of the three days, air temperatures were below 15 degrees. There was even slight drizzling during the day, which affected the track temperature and surface as well.

As per GrandPrixNews247, the Frenchman reflected on the Italian team's test and said:

“It has been hard to get a clear read on the overall situation here in Bahrain, as the conditions were changing quite a lot day by day and from the morning to the afternoon. It was more similar to Vegas than to the Bahrain we usually know. Over the past six months, we have worked very hard on this car and have made a good improvement.

"But we will have to wait until we are all on track in Melbourne to understand where we are. We want to fight for both championships, as we know we have two drivers who can do it, and the mood in the team is very positive."

The Italian team looked a notch behind the pace-setters McLaren on the track at the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain last week as they struggled with balance issues on the SF-25.

Ferrari will look to make changes to the 2025 challenger ahead of the season opener in Melbourne in mid-March to compete in the championship from the get-go.