Vasseur drops cryptic hint in key Ferrari replacement search

Frederic Vasseur has dropped a cryptic hint about a potential Ferrari arrival in the wake of the departure of a key technical figure. 

It was announced after the British Grand Prix that long-time chassis technical chief Enrico Cardile was leaving Maranello to take up a role with Aston Martin in 2025, with Vasseur stepping into fill Cardile's role on an interim basis. 

Ferrari is known to be courting Adrian Newey to become part of its team, with the former Red Bull Chief Technical Officer able to start with a new team, if he chooses, from April 2025, which would give him enough time to have a proper impact on the new '26 machines.

Newey is being hunted by a number of teams on the grid, with Aston also keen to lure him to Silverstone, with Ferrari boss Vasseur dropping a cryptic hint - as he also revealed Cardile's replacement would be announced in the short-term.

"I will fill the position during the summer break as it is easiest, but just after the summer break, we will announce the new organisation," Vasseur told media including RacingNews365. 

"But at the end of the day, we have a group of more than 200 people working on these cars, and with 200 people, one person [leaving] is not always a drama."

When pushed further as to who could be on the short-list to replace Cardile, Vasseur wryly replied: "I have a couple of names with five letters."

Ferrari making good progress

Despite the departure of Cardile (below), Vasseur is sure that Ferrari's technical team remains robust and was keen to play up the significance and impact of the group as opposed to one engineer.

"I always push to explain that individuals are less important than the group, and it is true when you are [signing] someone, and it is when you are losing someone," he said.

"The stability of the group [is important], and that the other people are working very well together, we have showed that we work as a team in the tough moments.

"I don't want to pay attention to a single event, that in 12 months [between Hungary races], we closed by a third the gap to the winner and it is thanks to the job done at the factory. 

"It means that I have huge trust in them, but we have to continue as I am not happy with the result, I am not happy to be 20s behind [the winner], but last year [in Hungary], we finished 65s behind.