'Chief designer Ferrari about to leave for McLaren'

Ferrari is reportedly on the verge of losing a key developer, the Italian medium reports MotoriOnline.com. Head of aerodynamics David Sanchez would reportedly leave the team early in the season.

Sanchez has been involved with Ferrari since 2012. Since that year, he has focused mainly on the car's aerodynamics. In 2021, he was promoted to the position of head of development, in which capacity he played a leading role in designing the 2022 car. The design of the car did not seem to be a problem per se: Ferrari was certainly able to make things pretty difficult for Max Verstappen in the title race at the beginning. Over the course of the season, however, Ferrari slumped, although the car's reliability and questionable strategy certainly played a big part in that too.

Sanchez would leave because of poor season start

At the opening race of 2023, Ferrari was nowhere to be seen. Verstappen immediately punched a gap to Leclerc, Perez later passed the Monegasque as well, and after Leclerc's failure, Sainz saw his podium spot nicked by Fernando Alonso. Partly because of this poor start, Sanchez is now said to be about to leave. It is not yet clear if Sanchez is leaving on his own initiative, or if he is fired by the organisation.

Ferrari has a new team boss this year in Frederic Vasseur. Upon taking office, Vasseur made it clear that he had no plans to radically overhaul the team. However, Sanchez's departure would mark the second major personnel change since Vasseur took office. Earlier, chief strategist Iñaki Rueda got a position elsewhere and Ravin Jain took over the role from him.

Update: Sanchez reportedly to leave for McLaren

According to Motorsport.com, Sanchez is leaving of his own accord. The engineer has reportedly found a new employer in McLaren. That being said, because of a mandatory gardening leave, he is not allowed to start immediately. Instead, he will have to wait a set period of time before he can start working at a rival team.