Court rules in favour of Ferrari as Cardile delayed at Aston Martin

An Italian judge has ruled in favour of Ferrari regarding Enrico Cardile 's start date at Aston Martin. As a result, the former technical head of the Italian F1 team will definitely not be allowed to start at Silverstone before 18th July when his gardening leave ends.

Cardile left Ferrari in July for a new role as Chief Technical Officer at Aston Martin, but since then the two teams have had a dispute over his start date. There is a compulsory 12 month period of gardening leave, which, according to his contract, prevents Cardile from joining another employer before 18th July. In a statement, Ferrari stated that this condition would have been breached.

"With reference to the recent news regarding the timing of Enrico Cardile's arrival at Aston Martin, Ferrari clarifies that a few weeks ago the Court of Modena, upholding the requests of the Company, ordered Enrico Cardile to immediately cease any form of collaboration with Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team until next July 18," reads Ferrari's statement.

Aston Martin considers the matter to be between Cardile and Ferrari and has not shared a comment for the time being. The Silverstone-based F1 team will make an announcement 'in due course'.

This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder.