Lewis Hamilton may be leaving Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of the season, but the Silver Arrows have redeemed themselves by signing two rivals from the F1 team.
To do this, Wolff adds two Ferrari staff to his Mercedes sub-team (Toto Wolff has strengthened his Mercedes management team with two new signings from Formula 1 rivals Ferrari.
Simone Resta has agreed to become director. of strategic development for the Brackley-based team. Enrico Sampo left the Scuderia to take control of Mercedes’ performance software programs.
Resta, in particular, is seen as a key addition to Wolff’s management when he joins Mercedes in 2025 while serving garden leave .
The 53-year-old was most recently technical director at Ferrari customer team Haas, but left in January.
He has been tipped to return to the Italian team but is determined to reunite with former colleague James Allison, who worked together for four years at Ferrari between 2013 and 2016, with Allison as technical director and Resta as chief designer.
Mercedes hopes his appointment can help the team return to title contention by 2026 when new F1 car design rules come into force.
The new engines are a title change, but Resta can use his expertise on the aerodynamic rules, which are also undergoing major changes.
Wolff is happy to give Ferrari a blow after losing its star driver. Lewis Hamilton will join the Scuderia at the end of the year after agreeing to start a new chapter in his F1 career at the age of 40
.And Hamilton may not be the only one to leave Mercedes for Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season. Wolff admitted , that director of driver development Jerome D’Ambrosio will consider his options when his contract expires.
The Austrian told reporters: “I think he is with us now and more for personal reasons. He will evaluate his options . , what to do and I think he should talk about it. But it’s fine, it’s fine, we’ll see what happens.
D’Ambrosio is said to be signing with Ferrari despite only joining Mercedes at the beginning of last year.
He was previously Formula E team principal at Venturi Racing, where he worked alongside his current boss’s wife, Susie Wolff, who was the team’s CEO.
If he moves, D’Ambrosio could be head of the driver academy of Ferrari It’s currently run by longtime Jock Clear, but he has a lot of other duties at the road weekends, so that’s something that can be taken down..