Key Mercedes official Loic Serra begins gardening leave ahead of Ferrari move

Mercedes Performance Director Loic Serra has left the team, beginning his gardening period to join Scuderia Ferrari at the end of the season, around the same time when Lewis Hamilton will join the team.

The 52-year-old joined the Brackley squad in 2013 as Head of Vehicle Dynamics and has been a key element in defining their success throughout the turbo-hybrid era. He was promoted to Performance Director in 2018 and has worked in the position up until now.

As Lewis Hamilton races in his final season with Mercedes, Loic Serra begins his gardening period as well. He is expected to join the team under the leadership of Enrico Cardile in the aerodynamic department in Maranello.

Ferrari is strongly focused on the 2026 F1 season with new engine regulations and completely different cars. Although they are far more competitive than Mercedes at the moment, their focus in the next two seasons is expected to be on the world championship, which has been speculated to be one of the reasons why Lewis Hamilton decided to switch teams.

Recently, the Brackley-based team became the first team in F1 to cross £500 million turnover, but a few aspects still raise questions because their performance has only gotten poorer.

---

Mercedes cross £500m in 2023 turnover, but lack performance despite an £11m increase in car development

The team declared a whopping £546,500,000 turnover for the year 2023, a £71.9 million increase from the previous year. Despite this massive growth in turnover, there was a decrease in the generated profits. 2022 witnessed them yield £89.7m in profits, while it was £83.8m in 2023.

Mercedes mentioned that the FIA's budget cap had positively affected their spending on the team. Moreover, the increase in ground staff and steady social media growth were other contributing factors.

Interestingly, the team spent £11 million more on the development of W15, their current challenger. This was because the issues that persisted in the W14 required a change in the design concept, chassis, etc. Despite this, the team has suffered this season so far.

2024 marked their worst start in the last ten years. Four rounds in, the team stands in fourth position with just a single point's lead over Aston Martin in fifth position. It seems hard in their current form to even remotely challenge championship leaders Red Bull for a victory.

The team has been in a similar form since 2022 when the new aerodynamic regulations were introduced. They have won only one race since then (Brazil, 2022). The Mercedes cars were on the podium multiple times in the 2023 season, but their performance steadily declined and hasn't improved since.