Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said it took nearly two years to bring two Mercedes recruits to Ferrari due to the “frustrating” F1 ruleset.

Those two figures are Loic Serra, the former Mercedes performance director, and Jerome d’Ambrosio, formerly Mercedes’ junior team boss, who joined Ferrari in October as chassic technical director and deputy team principal/junior team boss respectively.

Ferrari lament ‘frustrating’ F1 gardening leave rule

Both were subject to a period of gardening leave, a customary period enforced in Formula 1 which delays an important figure in how soon they join a new team after leaving their previous employer.

And while Vasseur is well aware that this rule does not impact Ferrari alone, this does not make it any less frustrating.

Ferrari has secured another major signing from Mercedes in the form of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who thankfully for the Scuderia, is not subject to gardening leave.

And asked about Ferrari’s approach to the future, following a runner-up finish in the 2024 Constructors’ Championship, Vasseur told Autosprint: “We must maintain the same approach, work in line with our DNA as we are doing now. We always try to strengthen ourselves.

“As for the arrival of new resources, it is frustrating that it takes so many months before new hires can start working with them. But the rules are these and they are the same for everyone, even if they create rigidity.

“We have new resources that we contracted a year ago and only started six weeks ago. It’s a very long process. Resources recruited last year will contribute mainly to 2025 and 2026.

“To have people like Jerome d’Ambrosio and Loic Serra in the team, it took almost two years.

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“We must keep in mind that on the one hand, with twenty-four Grands Prix a year, we have to work to solve immediate problems within the next two days; on the other hand, instead, we have to think about other resources on a time level of two or three years.

“We must identify the areas where we need to improve in the immediate and resources able to work with the goal of the next season.

“We know that if we hire a resource in the month of November, its work will be reflected on the car two seasons later. My job is to keep a foot in every project, immediate or future.”

Carlos Sainz departed Ferrari to make space for Hamilton’s arrival, Sainz agreeing a multi-year deal with Williams.

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