Ferrari target Enrico Balbo has ‘learned a lot’ from Red Bull wizard Adrian Newey

Ferrari has set its sights on hiring two Red Bull engineers, who played a pivotal role in the development of the all-mighty RB-19 and its predecessor. One among them is said to be Enrico Balbo, the head of Aerodynamics of the defending champions.

According to reports, Enrico Balbo would be one of Ferrari's most high-profile recruits. During his stint with Red Bull, which started in January 2018, the Italian has worked with Chief Technology Officer Adrian Newey. After Newey's accident in 2021, he became the head of aerodynamics for the Milton-Keynes outfit, limiting the workload on the senior figure.

Balbo ranks third on the technical leadership ladder behind Adrian Newey and technical director Pierre Wache. Journalist Leo Turini of Quotidiano Nazionale described Balbo as an excellent engineer who has 'learned a lot' from Adrian Newey.

The 43-year-old's success isn't limited to his time with Red Bull, as he previously worked at Mercedes from 2014 to 17 and took on various roles at Williams from 2006 to 13.

Enrico Balbo and Pierre Wache

Orchestrating this high-profile recruitment is Ferrari's team principal Fred Vasseur. The Italian team has suffered a brain drain in the past few months after losing its senior figures. Mattia Binotto's resignation last year was followed by McLaren poaching their head of vehicle concept David Sanchez. Another senior figure, Laurent Mekies, is set to join AlphaTauri in 2024.

Fred Vasseur has decided to bring in fresh blood for senior roles in the Italian team following the departure of the long-time Ferrari engineers. This also indicates a change in the mindset of the management team at Maranello, who were previously hesitant to hire outsiders under Binotto's regime.

Despite an underwhelming start to the season, Fred Vasseur is laying the foundation for the future.

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Ferrari bringing its first upgrades of the season this weekend at Miami

F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan

Coming off a strong weekend at Baku, Ferrari is set to bring its first upgrade of the season ahead of the Miami GP.

Fred Vasseur explained that upgrades in Miami will be followed by smaller ones on the European circuits. He also stressed the importance of extracting the maximum potential of the car as he said:

"We will start to bring updates on the car from Miami and for the next couple of events and we will see how the car will react to the updates. The update is one thing but the fact that you are able to extract all of the potential out of the update is another one."

Speaking about the gap to the pace-setting Red Bulls, he added:

"Overall, they were faster than us and we don't have to bullshit ourselves. Then to understand if it is coming from aero or mechanical is another story."

With these upgrades, the team is hoping to reduce the deficit to the front-runners and emerge as the second-fastest team.