Ferrari 'steal' Wolff's right-hand man ahead of Hamilton's arrival

Ferrari have officially announced they have appointed Loic Serra and Jerome D'Ambrosio. The two are from Mercedes and have been serving their gardening leave recently. They will join Lewis Hamilton in making a switch from Mercedes to the Maranello-based team.

Serra will start work as Head of Chassis Performance Engineering. The Frenchman had previously worked in F1 for Michelin, BMW-Sauber and then Mercedes. At Mercedes, Serra last served as Performance Director.

Besides Serra, Belgian D'Ambrosio will also be acquired from Mercedes. D'Ambrosio was seen as Toto Wolff's successor, but the Belgian is now making the move to Italy. The former Formula One driver will become Frederic Vasseur's right-hand man as Deputy Team Principal. The pair will join Lewis Hamilton at the Italian racing team, who will leave Mercedes come the end of the 2024 season.

D'Ambrosio already has a distinguished career in motorsport. The Belgian himself was a professional racing driver until 2020 and even drove twenty Grands Prix in Formula 1. After his active career as a driver, D'Ambrosio started a career as a team principal. He did this creditably with the Venturi Racing team in Formula E, after which he was given the opportunity at Mercedes. D'Ambrosio and Serra will start at Ferrari on 1 October, 2024.