An Italian court has blocked Enrico Cardile from joining Aston Martin after Ferrari argued their former employee was still under a non-compete commitment.

Cardile left his Head of Aero Development role at Maranello last season to join Aston Martin but as per standard procedure, the Italian team inserted a period of gardening leave into his contract before he was allowed to start work with his new team.

Ferrari block Aston Martin new signing

Following Adrian Newey’s first day on Monday, it was anticipated that Cardile would soon be allowed to start work at Aston but Ferrari have confirmed that an Italian court has upheld their request that he will be barred until July.

A Ferrari statement said: “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.

“In this urgent procedural phase, the Court of Modena found that our former employee was already violating the non-compete commitment with Ferrari, whose purpose was precisely to prevent other F1 teams from gaining an unjustified competitive advantage by hiring Cardile earlier than allowed, causing irreparable harm to Ferrari.”

This will no doubt come as a blow to Aston who had hoped to have Cardile in-situ alongside Newey as soon as possible.

More to follow