Mercedes are no longer interested in signing Adrian Newey. Time is now up. La Stella has no intention of waiting for the choices of the English “genius” because she intends to go his way. Toto Wolff finds himself in a very particular moment in which the Brackley team is in a phase of full renewal, as if, having finished a work cycle full of satisfactions and world titles, the phase has arrived in which it is necessary to build a new cycle .
The ebb phase has not yet ended: the exodus of prominent figures has not yet ended. Gioacchino Vino, head of the aerodynamic department, leaves the black-silver team. The Australian, despite his very Italian surname, begins his six-month gardening period after having been an important cornerstone of the team since 2018. In reality, Giacchino pays for having directed the Brackley aerodynamic group since 2022, that is, leading the cycle of three cars (W13, W14 and W15) which with the ground effect regulation did not give the results that the Star expected.
James Allison, Technical Director of Mercedes-AMG F1
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
James Allison, who took over as technical director last year in place of Mike Elliott, failed to give the turnaround that the German brand expected, but everyone recognizes the English engineer as having found himself too alone in a technical field which over time was literally looted. It seems that James was willing to hand in his resignation which was also rejected by the leaders of the House and the future must pass through Allison’s experience.
In addition to Vino, Loic Serra also left in April, the Frenchman who will arrive at Maranello from 1 October together with Jerome d’Ambrosio, Toto Wolff’s right-hand man who will be Ferrari’s vice-team principal, for whom he will answer only to Fred Vasseur . The operation to strengthen the Scuderia takes place with the… emptying of Brackley, but the strengthening of Mercedes also starts with the acquisition of two figures from the Cavallino.
Simone Resta when he was with Alfa Romeo, before the Haas experience
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Simone Resta will arrive in October: the engineer from Imola who was the technical director of Haas for three years, not being included in the plans of Enrico Cardile who kept him away from the Gestion Sportiva, will be the designer to whom Mercedes will entrust the design of the single-seater 2026 with the new regulations.
La Stella is also focusing on Enrico Sampò, the simulation specialist, an area where Wolff’s team seems to have missed some hits: the Italian, in fact, will be head of performance software applications.
Mercedes is not involved in Adrian Newey’s bullish game who is willing to agree on another team, but without taking on any technical responsibility, preferring a role as a consultant available two or three days a week, working in out-sourcing and without the obligation to go to the factory regularly.
Toto Wolff, therefore, wants to build a new technical working group by looking for resources that can be integrated into a staff that needs to be reformed from the ground up.
