Frédéric Vasseur has revealed that it took him almost two years to bring two Mercedes F1 recruits to Ferrari due to “frustrating” F1 contracts.
They are Loïc Serra, the former Mercedes performance director, and Jérôme d'Ambrosio, former Mercedes junior team boss, who joined Ferrari in October as technical director and deputy performance director. 'team. D'Ambrosio will also take care of the young drivers' team.
Both were subject to a notice period (the famous gardening leave in English), a customary period applied in Formula 1 which often imposes long delays before joining a new team after leaving their former employer.
And while Vasseur is well aware that this rule doesn't just affect Ferrari, that doesn't make it any less frustrating.
“With current or future recruitments, we must maintain the same approach, working in accordance with our DNA as we do currently. We always try to strengthen ourselves without destabilizing.”
“As for the arrival of new resources, it is frustrating that it takes so many months before new recruits can start working. But the rules are these and they are the same for everyone, even if they create rigidity.”
“We have new resources that we contracted a year ago and only started six weeks ago. It's a very long process. The resources recruited last year will mainly contribute to 2025 and 2026 .”
“To have people like Jérôme d’Ambrosio and Loïc Serra in the team, it took almost two years.”
“We have to keep in mind that on the one hand, with twenty-four Grands Prix per year, we have to work to resolve the immediate problems in the next two days; on the other hand, we have to think of other resources on a time scale of two or three years.”
“We need to identify areas where we need to improve immediately and resources that can work towards the goal of next season.”
“We know that if we hire a resource in November, their work will reflect on the car two seasons later. My job is to keep one foot in every project, immediate or future.”
