Major senior management change at Ferrari as team announces new technical director

Ferrari recently announced that former Mercedes technical director, Loic Serra, will now be working for them as their new technical director for the chassis department. This marks another of many management changes made within the Italian team.

Back in May 2024, it was officially announced that Serra had left Mercedes and would soon join Ferrari in October. The engineer was asked to be on gardening leave before joining another team.

On September 5, 2024, the Scarlet team released a statement announcing that Serra will join the team as a technical director from October 1. They further explained how he would directly report to team principal Frederic Vasseur and supervise departments like chassis project engineering, vehicle performance, aerodynamics, track engineering, and chassis operations.

"Scuderia Ferrari HP announces that it has entrusted the role of Technical Director Chassis to Loic Serra. As previously announced, the French engineer, born in 1972, will join the team on 1 October. Loic in this new role will report directly to the Team Principal, Fred Vasseur," the statement read.

"Serra will therefore be responsible for the following departments: Chassis Project Engineering, headed up by Fabio Montecchi; Vehicle Performance, headed up by Marco Adurno; Aerodynamics, headed up by Diego Tondi; Track Engineering, headed up by Matteo Togninalli and Chassis Operations, headed up by to Diego Loverno, who also continues in the role of Sporting Director," it added.

Loic Serra has a long history in F1. He started his career in the sport as a tire researcher for Michilen in 2002 and worked on a new suspension system for F1 teams through the tire company. In the early 2000s, he worked as a head of vehicle performance in BMW Sauber but soon jumped ship and arrived in Mercedes.

He worked with Silver Arrows for quite some years, gradually climbing the ladder and becoming the team's performance and senior technical director. In 2023, he left the team to join Ferrari.

When it comes to constructors' standings, the Maranello-based team is in third place with 407 points. They are chasing second-placed McLaren (438 points) and defending world champions and table leaders, Red Bull (446).

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Ferrari seniors held a meeting to discuss the team's recent dip in performance before summer break

Before F1's summer break, it was reported by Funoanalisitecnica that Ferrari was going to hold a meeting, where several senior figures, including team principal Fred Vasseur and CEO John Elkann, would discuss the team's recent performance dip.

Ever since the Monaco GP, the team was unable to win any races till the break. They struggled in tracks like Canada, Spain, the UK, and more, where other teams took charge and collected massive points.

Along with several management changes, the Italian team was also trying to develop major upgrade parts to bounce back in the game. The topic of these meetings was speculated to be recent and future upgrades and further discussions about management changes.

The latest upgrade package from Ferrari was quite promising as it allowed Charles Leclerc to clinch a race win at the team's home race in Monza on September 1, 2024.