Ferrari are one of Red Bull Racing’s closest rivals this season and are positioning themselves perfectly to finally end their wait for a championship beyond this season.
The signing of Lewis Hamilton for 2025 is one of the biggest stories in recent F1 history, but behind the scenes, team principal Frederic Vasseur is working hard to build up the strongest team around him behind the scenes.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, pundit and former driver Karun Chandhok hailed another addition to the Ferrari team.
Marc Priestley has already suggested that Lewis Hamilton might want to bring his race engineer Pete Bonnington with him from Mercedes.
Vasseur has already moved quickly to hire two key members of staff from Hamilton’s current team.
Jerome D’Ambrosio was Toto Wolff’s de facto number two at Mercedes but will join Ferrari before the end of the year as Deputy Team Principal.
However, Chandhok wanted to highlight what a brilliant deal Ferrari have pulled off by bringing in Lois Serra from Mercedes as well.
The 52-year-old played a key role in Mercedes’s dominance over recent years and has now set his sights on replicating that success at Ferrari.
Karun Chandhok praises Ferrari signing Loic Serra
Ferrari have started the 2024 season very well and while they’re not quite on the same level as Red Bull, they’ve certainly closed the gap.
They’ve also got a big upgrade package coming for the race in Imola that they hope will make them legitimate championship contenders.
However, the excitement is building around 2025 already with Lewis Hamilton arguably the biggest signing the team have ever made.
His 2024 Mercedes isn’t quick enough to challenge for race wins this year, although his podium in the Sprint Race in Shanghai highlights that he’s not slowed down yet despite being nearly 40.
The driver in the car is incredibly important but the team behind them is equally essential.
Ferrari have brought in Loic Serra who was previously performance director at Mercedes and Chandhok believes it’s a great move.
He’ll step into the role of Head of Chassis Performance Engineering when he arrives at Ferrari on October 1 with an eye on 2025 and beyond.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory
Loic Serra has a big role to play in future Ferrari success
Talking about the latest goings on at Ferrari, Chandhok said: “You’d have to say Fred Vasseur is doing an amazing job because Loic Serra [is] very, very highly rated in the engineer and aero team up at Mercedes.
“And that’s a bit of a coup for Ferrari, whether they get Adrian Newey is still the big question mark that everyone’s waiting to see, how that unfolds.
“I genuinely believe what Adrian was saying to Martin [Brundle] in Miami which is I think he is just going to have some time off and consider his options.”
As Chandhok mentions, although the signings of Serra and D’Ambrosio are brilliant for Ferrari, Adrian Newey is the man everybody wants.
The 65-year-old has announced he’ll be leaving Red Bull at the start of 2025 and with new regulations on the horizon for the following year, he could be the difference between a team challenging for championship and being a midfield runner.
Newey is said to be seriously considering joining Ferrari but doesn’t appear to be rushing into a decision.
Frederic Vasseur has tried to play down his importance to a team, but won’t be saying no to Newey if he decides to make the move to Maranello.
The post ‘Bit of a coup’: Karun Chandhok praises Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur for making one ‘very highly rated’ signing appeared first on F1 Oversteer.