Lewis Hamilton has joined Ferrari ahead of the 2025 Formula 1 season, yet he was not alone in leaving Mercedes and moving to Maranello for the next phase of their careers.
The 40-year-old called quits on his largely successful stint at the Silver Arrows following two challenging campaigns. Hamilton failed to win any Grands Prix for the first time in Formula 1 in 2022 and 2023. He even recorded the Briton’s worst finish to any season with P7 last year.
Hamilton had his worst F1 season ever in 2024 to justify his decision to sign with Ferrari last February. Never before had the seven-time champion ended any term as low in the drivers’ standings as he did last year. It was a bleak finish to his Mercedes days after lifting six titles.
Loic Serra immediately noticed the differences at Ferrari after leaving Mercedes
Ferrari even followed their swoop to sign Hamilton by returning to Mercedes and luring Loic Serra to Maranello as their chassis technical director. He initially agreed to join Ferrari as the head of chassis performance but Enrico Cardile later stepped down to sign for Aston Martin.
Jerome d’Ambrosio also left the Silver Arrows to be Fred Vasseur’s deputy team principal at Maranello. Both Mercedes defectors started their tenures in October, and Serra wasted no time to intervene on Ferrari’s 2025 car to improve how their SF-25 will use the Pirelli tyres.
READ MORE: Seven best drives of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes career before Ferrari move
It also did not take Serra long to notice the differences between Mercedes and Ferrari, with the ‘talent and motivation’ of the Scuderia’s staff instantly sticking out. He could quickly see that the pride of Italy have the ingredients to keep improving and is ‘lucky’ to be at Ferrari.
“The role I have here at Ferrari is an evolution of the one I had before at Mercedes, but it is different,” Serra told AutoMoto.it. “I am really lucky to be surrounded by really talented and experienced people in every area of the team, they are the ones who really help me a lot.
“In my first months here at Maranello I noticed – maybe because I am now a technical director – some differences. But what catches the eye at Ferrari is the talent and motivation, two fundamental ingredients to always improve more.”
Loic Serra will encourage Lewis Hamilton seeing positive signs at Ferrari straight away
Hamilton will no doubt be thrilled to know Serra thinks so highly of those he will now work with at Ferrari after sharing so much success together at Mercedes. The French mechanical engineering graduate joined Mercedes back in 2010 and helped to all of Hamilton’s results.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory
Serra served as Mercedes’ chief vehicle engineer from 2010-13 before stepping up to head of vehicle dynamics in 2013 and performance director in 2018. His efforts helped Mercedes dominate F1 from 2014-20 following the introduction of 1.6L V6 turbo-hybrid power units.
Through that period, Hamilton won six drivers’ titles and came second in 2016 to teammate Nico Rosberg plus to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in 2021. So, for Serra to see positive signs at Ferrari in his first months, Hamilton will hope they now exploit the Scuderia’s resources.
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