When F1’s ideal partnership gets closer, a sudden departure makes room for a $48 million Ferrari shuffle.
Aston Martin has signed Ferrari technical director Enrico Cardile to the role of chief technical officer in a move that could pave the way for famed designer Adrian Newey to join Maranello.
Cardile, a 20-year veteran of Ferrari, had been the Italian team’s chassis and aerodynamics technical director until this week, when he handed in his notice with the intention of switching to Silverstone.
The chief technical officer role will place him above Aston Martin technical director Dan Fallows, the former Red Bull Racing recruit, to further bolster the ailing team’s technical structure.
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He’s set to start in 2025, which team owner Lawrence Stroll noted would “reinforce the technical leadership team ahead of significant regulation changes in 2026”.
“I am thrilled that we continue to attract world-class talent to our team,” he said.
“Enrico shares my motivation to be successful in F1 and will have all the resources available to him to realise that ambition.”
Cardile said he was attracted to being a key part of Aston Martin’s hoped-for step forward under the new rules.
“The ambition and desire are clear, and it is a unique opportunity to be part of that journey,” he said. “This is a personal and professional challenge, and I look forward to working with the team to bring success to this iconic brand.”
Aston Martin is also heavily rumoured to be pursuing Adrian Newey after the championship-winning designer announced he would quit his long-term post as Red Bull Racing chief technical officer.
Autosport reported earlier this year that owner Stroll had had his team’s brand-new factory completely emptied of staff to take Newey on a private tour of the facilities.
The UK Telegraph subsequently reported that Newey is asking for an eye-watering £25 million (A$47.5 million) salary to join Silverstone.
While Aston Martin remains in the running — some have claimed it is still favourite to secure Newey’s services — the arrival of Cardile in the overseeing chief technical officer role makes it more difficult to imagine a position for Newey in Aston Martin’s hierarchy.
Instead the move could make a fairytale Ferrari switch more likely, where there’s now an opening at the top of the technical structure.
Cardile’s departure could be read as an answer to Ferrari’s questions about the potential disruption bringing Newey to Maranello could cause given his role would necessarily sit above the current leaders of the design office.
Team principal Frédéric Vasseur will be interim technical director until a permanent replacement is found.
The Englishman is said to be yet to decide where he will work next year. He will leave Milton Keynes in the “first quarter” of 2025, after which he will be free to join a rival constructor as early as March.
Autosport has reported an agreement with Red Bull Racing will prevent him from publicly confirming his future until September.
He’s currently still committed to Red Bull via its hypercar project, the £5 million (A$9.5 million) RB17 track car.
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Cardile’s appointment follows news that group CEO Martin Whitmarsh, the former McLaren team principal, will step down and be replaced for ex Mercedes engine chief Andy Cowell.
Earlier this year it also appointed former Mercedes, Renault and McLaren man Bob Bell to the role of technical executive director.
“Together with Andy Cowell joining as group CEO in October and our existing leaders, we are creating a formidable team,” Stroll said.
The heavy-hitting technical team will be in place to make maximum use of Aston Martin’s new technical facilities, including the brand-new wind tunnel, which has come online this year and will make its first meaningful contributions to the 2025 car.
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Following the opening of a new factory and other technical facilities, the team should be ideally placed to make the most of its opportunities under the new rule book of 2026, when it will also become Honda’s de facto works partner.
Aerodynamic development on the 2026 car is banned until 1 January next year.
The news comes as a boost to Aston Martin, which has endured its most difficult run of races in more than two years.
Spain and Austria were the team’s first back-to-back non-scoring weekends since the start of the 2022 season and emblematic of the team’s decline in competitiveness since its podium-getting start to last year.
The team got both cars into the points in Britain in seventh and 10th, albeit with three for the frontrunning cars failing to score.
Its season-average qualifying pace marks it as the fifth-quickest team 0.8 seconds off the pace, but its performance is degrading at the rapid rate of 0.08 seconds per weekend.
Over the last five dry qualifying sessions it’s been the seventh quickest car and almost a second off the pace on average, falling behind both Alpine and RB.
Aston Martin is fifth in the constructors standings on 68 points, 153 points behind next-best Mercedes in fourth.
RB trails 37 points behind in sixth, with Haas only four points further back.
